Stormeye Saga: When Duty Calls
by Bluehawk
Summary: Bluehawk the blue fox, many years ago, was being trained in the secret service, and now they want him back...but he is already on a far more pressing mission to the one they want him assigned to...
1. The First Move

**#1 The First Move**

Bluehawk picked up the phone cheerfully. It had been mere weeks since he, SamaDaMana, Phantom Falcon, Minimaniac and KawaiiKitsune had returned from the battle with the elemental titans and the beast that was HT-4. But what the voice of Minimaniac said over the phone made his jaw drop. "I saw a dark blue fox! I think he's snooping about the city!"

Sama looked up from the documentary on the TV. "What wong?" 

Bluehawk shook his head. "If it really was him, there's nothing we can do now. Just be on absolute alert…especially through the night." Minimaniac mumbled a small agreement.

"Not like any of us will be able to sleep anymore. Keep your emerald absolutely, completely secure."

"Like I don't do that already." Bluehawk rolled his eyes and hung up. But this was definitely dire…if there was a dark blue fox making his way around, then that could only mean one thing…his brother was around. That it could be anyone else was highly unlikely. It was possible…that was why there was no need to panic yet. But like he had just told Minimaniac, there was a lot of reason to be alert. Shrugging this off for the moment since nothing could be done, he picked up the pager and beckoned to Sama, who instantly jumped to his feet to follow Hawk out the door. 

The streets were fairly active, as they always were even during the night. Sama said nothing, not even thinking aloud, and Bluehawk strolled along on the alert, but still casual. The blue sky was occasionally disturbed only by a twittering bird or a small or distant wisp of cloud. If Hawk didn't feel he had to stay so sharp, it would have been a beauty of a day. Nothing cliché like singing birds and happy faces everywhere, but cars drove past on their normal schedule (or late for) and the footpath was littered with hedgehogs, foxes, echidnas, cats, assorted kitsunes…all on their normal business like Hawk and Sama were. First stop was the Reload Centre; if Bloodhawk was back it was important to stock up on ammo a bit more than normal. The supplies in that regard were fine at home, but Bluehawk grabbed a few extra clips of the finest quality 9mm and led Sama out of the colourless store before he could steal anything. Next on the list was the groceries, they picked up all of the normal food items, and Hawk made sure to buy some chocolate to keep Sama happy. ("Look! Supermarket have two-use bullet! Chocolate AND gun!") Sama fumbled with the packet of chocolate bullets all the way home.

The receptionist at the apartment building typed away noisily, noting that there was no one in the room and quickly clicking the minimized window at the bottom of her screen, the e-mail to the 'friend' of hers whom her friends were always teasing her about. Reading between the lines of his email she almost got the impression that he felt the same way, suddenly she started in her seat as the whirring outside the door cut in suddenly. Phantom Falcon jumped off his glider and tapped a few buttons on the remote control, sending it back up to the point he had designated for its parking. Its personal generator in its engine certainly came in handy since he couldn't afford to turn it off, so he had it wait outside his window when he wasn't using it. The secretary relaxed, then realised that her email window was still open, this guy would know if she was goofing off. She managed to act as if everything was normal until he was through the door to the stairway, and then let out a sigh of relief as she glanced longingly at that picture of the Sonic the Hedgehog gang on the wall. Her boss had always questioned the money she paid for that frame, but why pay less for that hunky hedgehog? She looked at her watch, and finished off the email before packing up for the next receptionist to take her shift.

*****

That time of night had come. The right time for action. A shadowy figure knew what it had to do…its dreams were on the verge of realization. Wiping the face of discrimination and of those mindless experiments that drove him to be so in the first place…the apartment building of the first owner loomed right in front of him. Yes, one of the chaos emeralds was here…just up a few floors…in a flash he was up in the air, and the window he sought was almost tapping his nose…and with a flick of the wrist… 

Bluehawk Dustorm suddenly sat bolt upright in his bed, beads of sweat beginning to form in his fur. That thoom…he had heard a big explosion in the distance. Immediately he got up, slipped on his shoes, red pants and blue vest, and ran to the phone, waiting by it with his hand ready to pick up…he grabbed it the moment it started ringing. "I know! What happened?"

"Someone who owned one of the emeralds lived there!" Bluehawk looked, seeing the flames out of his window. It was high up. Glass was probably everywhere. It was Minimaniac speaking.

"I'm there." Bluehawk dropped the receiver, not even bothering to replace it…he ran to the far wall, pressed a small button, and then, completely against his normal personality, leaped straight into the window, a high-pitched smash and glass flying everywhere around the falling fox, flipping through the air with his chaos emerald in hand, toward the rising seat of the Squall. A helicopter flew overhead, searchlights scanning…Bluehawk flipped forward as the seat rushed up to meet him, jamming the emerald's sharp end into the back of the seat, where it would power his vehicle, then still gripping it, landed straight on the seat, whacking a button with his finger, labelled 'road'. Instantly the vehicle packed in its wings, folding them over, and flipped out tyres and wheels in the right places, and the Squall was now basically a car. The engine started as Bluehawk prepared for the instant turn down the street. Boost button, and the vehicle was at full speed, leaving a trail of flames from the booster at the back.

Phantom Falcon watched out the window as Bluehawk zoomed off in the Squall. Lucky he had kept what he stole…the glider. He ran out the door and upstairs to the roof of the building and leapt onto the strange metallic board, feeling the rush of air as he steered its anti-grav upward and toward the flames of a distant building. Whoever it was was already fleeing…speed and a good viewpoint were vital. 

Bluehawk weaved right and left, then right again, then a bit further to the right into the next lane, and then quickly steered back to the next and found a break in the nighttime traffic as he whooshed down the hill. This booster in the back was doing its job well, cutting him straight down the street even faster than he could run. He pressed the booster button again, deactivating it as he neared the site. Police cars surrounded the area…their lights flashing the building down with complete randomness. Police furries strolled about the area in groups, as if patrolling. Bluehawk turned and activated the handbrake, skidding up right near the barrier. "Did you see anything?" He called. 

A female grey wolf walked up to him out of the mess of confusion. "There was a dark blue guy ran off in a flash…over that way." She pointed behind Bluehawk, who was gone in a flash after the wailing sirens, the sounds of pursuit. Damn, these upgrades made for a fast vehicle. Within a minute he was behind the police vehicles by a corner, then tearing down the street after them. The darkened, lightless windows raced past him as he slowed down to the same as the police cars, but eventually they skidded to a halt near a residential street, and the police got out of their vehicles, running toward a two-story building. Another emerald location. Bluehawk grabbed his own, running up with them, Uzana 32 at the ready, pointed up at the balcony with the police. Something made of glass smashed inside. Bluehawk grabbed the megaphone off the policeman next to him, knowing what he had to do. He flicked the switch with the end of his gun, holding it upright. "I know you're in there, bro! Come out with your hands up!"

The darkly tinted door slowly opened. A dark figure began to step out. "Ah, but Mykol Hawking, are you so sure I'm who you think I am?" That voice…NO!

Bluehawk's jaw dropped. It couldn't be. His friend…his old friend, who he had relied on so much at the orphanage in his preschool years…Black Eagle had turned on his own ways, stealing chaos emeralds in the night, causing chaos…

"Hahaha…I see your surprise…but things change. I am one of them…I am DARKNESS!" suddenly there was a flash of yellow light. Instead of the dark blue armadillo there was the same armadillo, glowing yellow where he had once been dark. Bluehawk's jaw trembled. He had never shown this power before. But…how could his friend…Bluehawk knew what he had to do as Black Eagle…or Darkness as he now called himself…suddenly zipped off in a blur of yellow down the road.

The bright yellow armadillo ran confidently, knowing that no-one could keep up, let alone actually capture him…there was a whirring behind him, like that of a car…then suddenly he heard the thump of a car hitting the ground…looked around as he ran full-pelt down the hill…Bluehawk's vehicle was right behind him, swerving about the road as it straightened up. No problem, just shake it off…Bluehawk muttered into the receiver, trying to reach Phantom…Darkness darted to the footpath, swerved around the tables and chairs of the restaurants as he struggled to find a straight path, while Phantom, riding a modified glider, dived after him from ahead…dive, then dive again from the same direction…he was beginning to master his teleport when it was really needed…and the glider teleported with him! The armadillo jumped into the air, the Squall pursuing closely…suddenly, at the intersection down the bottom of the hill, whining police cars screeched into positions to block him…in a flash he had jumped straight over them…Bluehawk was going to hit them…no? He was transforming his vehicle, and it took off into the air…Darkness saw the next emerald in his mind…there were so many of them in the city…funny that, how they weren't dispersed throughout the world…

Bluehawk looked down at the figure dashing around the corner and turned upwards, over the buildings…the yellow glow was enough of a guide as to where he was going, the plane could take shortcuts, but it would not be able to keep up and stop him, only keep track. Bluehawk steered himself into the road on which his new adversary was travelling…travelling high-above and watching through the blur of the propeller didn't help, but it was a start…Darkness turned left, into an alleyway…Bluehawk dived, low to the ground as he could get, as if landing…then flicked the button on the control panel again, and the wings and propeller began to fold in as before, the tyres folding out from the corners, the plane's tail becoming the shape that glass does in a kaleidoscope and creating more weight on the back end, revealing the booster. The vehicle thudded down, lifting Bluehawk from his seat as he swerved dangerously to the left, tipping the Squall over onto two wheels as it turned…_Focusfocusfocus…_Bluehawk tapped the boost button on the panel and quickly gripped the controls as he was thrusted backwards in his seat, a blast of wind hitting the sunglasses to his nose. The running yellow glow, racing down along the white lines, was getting closer, although it was still far distant…He had to be stopped. Now to make use of the propeller changes…Bluehawk gripped the primary buttons on the control stick, flashes emanated from the front of the vehicle, orange streaks tore through the air at the target…straight at his back…but what was this? The visual of him trembled slightly at the bullet went right past him…was he that fast to react? Suddenly there was the whirring of another Phantom dive, going straight over Hawk's head. Bluehawk fired the cannons again…Eagle's image swished, twisted and in a moment the bullet had hit the front of the vehicle…the tyre! Bluehawk steered to the right as far as he could so that it wouldn't go berserk on him, almost slamming straight into a street sign marked 'Pedestrian Crossing'. He quickly clicked the button that would sacrifice a lot of speed, but it was necessary now that he had no handling. The plane instantly soared into the air, following the yellow streak at a distance. Phantom pulled up beside Hawk, the glider he rode making its faint whirr. "What are you doing?"

"My tyre's punctured! My own bullet, damnit!"

Phantom shook his head. "Missiles?"

Hawk hesitated as he saw the yellow glow turn into a corner, slow down slightly as it dodged some cars and caused a pile-up, then keep on going toward its next destination. Red and blue lights flashed on the road behind it. "Only if absolutely necessary!!" Phantom nodded and soared downward, spoiling for a fight since his last successful bout with HT-4. Soon there were screeches, gunfire, the police vehicles didn't go any further and the yellow glow kept on moving through the street as Bluehawk could only see the light it created on the building walls from his position…Finally he was pulling into the street, and surveyed the damage. Cars were piled on top of each other, thrown straight through windows and one old bomb had been slammed into a traffic light pole. The glow of Darkness had come to a halt…glowing more and more intense…suddenly there was a blast of black and blue on the front of Hawk's plane and it pulled downwards…Bluehawk grabbed the emerald and leapt out, landing behind it and facing off at the attacker in the distance. Yellow glow of the emerald against the red glow of that of the attacker…but Eagle hadn't emitted any red lights…suddenly another dark blue blast came right for him as he leapt to the ground beside himself and it scraped past his shoulder, grazing it dangerously…if that had hit him…Bluehawk held the emerald outstretched in front of him and suddenly had an idea…if it worked…he held the emerald with one hand and aimed his Uzana 32 straight through it, and the emerald somehow stuck to the end of his gun…and with a pull of the trigger…another blue blast rumbled toward him, but the yellow blast that came out of his gun wiped it out in its path to Eagle…Hah, surely it wouldn't be powerful enough to-WHAM! Eagle shot into the air with the impact, his overconfidence in his own power becoming his downfall. His body turned back to its normal dark blue as Bluehawk jogged up to him, the yellow emerald's power exhausted for now. Darkness the armadillo looked up weakly, but determinedly…evilly. 

"You…can't win…" He grunted. "Surrender now…this entire city will be spared. Resistance is the reason for destruction…we have no quarrel with you…"

"We?" Bluehawk questioned, pointing his not-yet exhausted gun at his old friend's face mercilessly. The emerald was darkened, his friend was darkened, but the light of Hawk's spirit showed no sign of letting up.

"Haha…yes…" Eagle tapped his wrist. And Bluehawk looked up into the distance in horror. Much higher-up on the side of a hill stood his apartment building…his exploding apartment. His apartment and Phantom's were demolished just like that, with the press of a button…all of his possessions…and even worse…Sama! And the chao! Sama might possibly survive…but nothing else would.

"YOU BASTAR-" Hawk was thrown back onto his rear-end as Eagle made his escape…Hawk shot the emerald out of his hand, but it was too late to catch him. Suddenly he heard a crackle. He had forgotten he was still wearing his headset. "Hawk! Eagle's gone…but there's something even worse…YOUR BROTHER'S RUNNING FROM THE VICINITY OF THE APARTMENT!"

"Affirmative. I'm in pursuit." Two emeralds in tow, one of which was charging, Bluehawk jumped up at the building, landing on the shade of a shop and bouncing up onto the roof. A dark blue glow was making its way up the hill and away…Bluehawk dashed forward, leaping onto the next row of buildings, taking a few steps and then again hurling himself through the air to the next one. His vehicle was down, but he was far from it. Within half a minute, he was passing the now burning apartment building which he would no longer call his own…he was going to get his own home so that if this happened again no-one would be harmed! But the dark blue glow tore through the streets unopposed, uncountered…until B. Dustorm was running up its rear…and it was the same guy he remembered…taller now, but the same guy he had had the chaos showdown with…who had responded to the beckoning call of the chimeras, unlike the younger fox in pursuit…he didn't notice the crackling electricity behind him, or the thudding footsteps twice the rate of a mouse's heartbeat. And he didn't realize his brother was right behind him until he was on the ground; face down, hands being pulled behind his back as a foot dug into his spine. He hadn't yet dropped his dark blue emerald…He was suddenly gone, standing in front of Hawk.

"Two enemies coinciding their attacks. Seems strange, don't it, bro?"

"He's allied himself with you…and…" Suddenly Hawk saw the flashing light coming over the horizon that could only mean one thing-chimera ship. "You're still in command!" Hawk growled. 

His brother snarled. 

"You goin' down, Bloodhawk!" Bluehawk lunged forward, and then was suddenly behind with an uppercut charged with chaos energy.

"Up I think is the word…and nice name, Mykol! I think it…suits me somewhat…" Bloodhawk flipped backward twice, slamming down on Bluehawk with full downward-force. Bluehawk executed his own backflip and threw his brother through the air in the direction of the forthcoming ship. He righted himself, bouncing off his hands and the blue emerald with ease, standing to stare each other down…a whirring noise came from behind, that of the glider, Phantom coming to his aid. Bloodhawk glanced up. "Your friend." He indicated.

Bluehawk nodded. What was he going on about now?

**"MY** FRIEND!" He suddenly cried…

"BLIZZARD!" That was from behind-and suddenly both Bluehawk and Phantom felt cold, so cold…the police cars drew up just behind where Phantom had landed in his block of ice. The culprits had both got away…what was that flashing light in the sky? A dark blue and a yellow glow thing entered it each individually on the horizon. Pursuit was now useless; although helicopters were now heading in the direction…within seconds they had been picked off by an energy beam weapon, and crashed to the ground with thooming explosions. 

"Did your mission succeed, Master Stryke?" grunted the chimera general Lirash is his own language. Darkness didn't recognize the words, but Bloodhawk deciphered it instantly and snarled. 

"We got one of them…the fox and our traitor got to us and it was all we could do to escape with this." Bloodhawk juggled the dark blue emerald as they walked down the corridor flanked on every side by uniformed hedgehog-like creatures. "Even so, thanks to our shrewd timing, tomorrow when _it_ reaches the city destroying all in its path, they will think that we sent it, that we control it. They will fear us whether our mission tonight succeeded or not!" 

*****

The warning reached the city hall in due time, coming straight from the sky to the post to the van to its destination. It would take a further three hours to safely thaw the two frozen by the pair of thieves, despite Bluehawk holding two chaos emeralds in his ice case and the craft Phantom had been using thawing out its own little bubble. The laser cutting was almost complete, and the liquid that they would properly thaw with was ready. But this letter…

"We'll know in advance when it's on its way…whatever it is they refer to. The people will see the ship approaching, ready to drop it off, and they will recognize it immediately and be willing to counter it. They cannot destroy the city. Not with any creature that they may use."

But the mayor wasn't entirely right. The letter came as a warning for if they did not give up the city's remaining emeralds, but the fact was that whether or not they did they would be attacked, because the ex-test specimen was outside of any chimera control. 

The first thing that Bluehawk was cognizant of was that he was being seated and briefed on what had happened and what was about to happen. The chaos emeralds had recharged in the ice, but Bluehawk was none the wiser as they had been removed before he had. So the two he had pursued the previous night had got away…and now they were using some huge creature to attack? Cowards, both of them…all of them! Bluehawk thought to himself, shivering in his towel and shaking the dripping moisture off of his shoes as he walked out the door into the rain. The sky was full of grey, as if whoever was up there controlling it had a problem with what had happened the previous night. Phantom followed him out sheepishly, both of them somewhat subdued because of their being encased in ice. Basically all they could do is shuffle toward where they remembered home to be to check things out. 

******

"Sir, we've found it and it's on its way."

"Excellent." Muttered the dark blue fox. 

"And what of the humans?" Darkness growled at the chimera whose spine streaks were non-existent, but bright green went from his nose up and covered his whole top spine.

"They're in stasis, sir. They seem to be growing wolf-tails, similar to what was anticipated. We have no idea of whether they may be going mad or not, however."

"All the better if they are." Muttered Bloodhawk. "They would rampage the planet like the released test subjects."

The chimera shuddered slightly. "You need not remind me. While we remain in this atmosphere there is a constant danger that HT-4 may-"

"I am WELL aware thank you!"

******

The ex-apartment was still smoking, a gaping black hole in the side of the building. Sama was waiting in there, staring over the edge. He looked down to see Bluehawk and immediately ran out the blackened door. Bluehawk lazily rubbed his eyes-according to his metabolism it was the middle of the night. Suddenly Bluehawk shivered slightly…that wasn't from himself…then again, and then again at the same interval. Suddenly he heard a rumble, a thoom, like a huge explosion coming from the North. Phantom's eyes widened as they darted around, he stepped back slightly, looking around. It couldn't be. Not now…the chimeras had contributed with last night's attack…could they be sending this? But he couldn't even see it…surely it hadn't gotten that huge…then he saw it…all of those metallic scales, that huge yellow eye, perched atop the head that looked more like a bending horn, stomping through the trees and approaching what it seemed to recognize as a city. Sama finally burst out the door as Phantom looked back to Bluehawk uncertainly. Those metallic shines, all those plates of metal crunching, all of those metallic barbs wobbling with the plates…TR-7 had finally shown its huge ugly face. Bluehawk looked to Phantom, who was already flying off toward the creature on the glider as it reached the houses…but it was more interested in the power sources it saw…including the flying object which was giving strong heat signatures. It grunted, rearing a metallic grey arm for a punch, even though it had no fingers or knuckles. Bluehawk carried the two emeralds in hand as he walked powerfully, enshrouded by wind, atop a skyscraper. Phantom ducked and dodged around the huge creature, almost flailing about teasingly…then suddenly something struck it in the eye…Bluehawk looked at where he had seen the blur come from…Geez, KK had been on the scene fast…or was that where she lived? She half-hung out of a skyscraper window, bow raised with another arrow at the ready…but the huge creature fell over backwards. Phantom hit the ground on the glider, kicking forward off of it and landing on the fingerless, toeless creature's back. Bluehawk simply looked at him questioningly. "Whoever that was found its weakness pretty fast…although I had intended to hit it with a missile as soon as its guard was down from anger."

"It was KawaiiKitsune, from a tower window." She wasn't there anymore. Bluehawk wondered vaguely where Minimaniac was. "Tell ya what, that's pretty good aim."

The battle was over before it had begun, and miles away this very fact was being pondered.

"Mr. Dustorm, Mr. Falcon-"

"Hawk and Phantom, please." Hawk interrupted politely.

"…we've been expecting you. We've got that creature down in the underground laboratories for research, but we have concerns about the ones who sent it-"

"They didn't send it." Phantom interrupted. "They simply knew it was on its way. If they attack again, I'm sure the whole city will be up in arms within moments and they won't have a hope that way either."

The fox in the lab coat shrugged, dropping his clipboard onto the perfectly white desk that looked like it'd do better as a kitchen bench. "Whether or not the city worries about that is not my concern anyway."


	2. Release from Brutality

**#2: Release from Brutality**

She just kept running through the trees, unaware of where she was…in fact, she didn't care in the least. All she cared was that they had her in their gloves no longer…it was too tiring, dodging between trees, constantly getting sharp pains in her feet which occasionally she had to stop and pluck out. And that was time she would rather not have wasted. Every second spent running through this stupid forest was worthwhile, it would shake them off her new wolf tail that much the longer, make her that much harder to seek out…luckily she had a head start, they didn't know her stasis tank had faulted while they were changing shifts, perhaps they still hadn't realized…it would only be when they came for more experimenting…suddenly she heard a calm voice from above her and stopped, hoping that they hadn't heard her almost silent run, but then it was answered by another voice in conversation. Realizing how tense she was, she kept running, brushing the hair out of her eyes. The leaves crunched under her feet, sometimes jabbing, but the time it took to hop was too much. They could be following her at any moment, and it was best to lose herself in the city than anything else, it would be too easy to find her in the forest, but would it be just as easy to find her elsewhere if she collapsed from exhaustion? Whether it was worth thinking or not, those strange dark hedgehogs would be coming, and resorting to any means necessary to recover their 'specimen'…but then suddenly the ground ended and she was toppling head-first straight downward, over a rise in the earth and into solid dirt…everything went black.

Neon Chaos sat reading this new report, glaring at the grinning shark who had presented it to him. "You know where this was from, don't you?" he growled.

The blue Spiky Shark gave a slight start. "No, I don't…I received it by email." The polished walls of the mayor's office glinted into the 'Ego God's eyes, blinding him for a moment, but only for a moment. 

"Well…I guess it couldn't have been from _them_ then…go on, write the report using the information, and it'll be in the Times tomorrow…just make sure they know that the information is suspect." Spiky Shark left void of emotion.

This human…she was alive, the two-tailed fox girl realized as she tried to lift her out of the dirt and brush it off of her face, trying not to get it on her new clothes the first time she wore them. Then in an instant, they were both gone, scattering the birds around them with fright as the crack of a collapsing vacuum sent them shrieking.

It was a few hours before this human girl managed to come to. She groaned slightly, looked up, then shot bolt upright with a shriek. Within moments Foxy was there, trying to explain the situation.

"I found you in the north forest…it's not very big anymore, mind, but you were lying unconcious in the dirt, so I teleported you here." The human girl looked out the window. "You're in SoaH city."

"What now?" She said lazily. She had heard the name somewhere before…it had been spoken of to her, just recently…dank steel corridors and such…all just a blank. "M-my name is Sierra." She held out a hand for the shaking and Foxy accepted cheerfully. 

"I'm Foxy."

Sierra looked around and out the window again, bouncing somewhat on the bed as she sat.

"Where are you from, and what were you doing?" Foxy inquired, glancing nervously at the window. Not getting away yet, info comes first.

"I don't know…running from something…all I can remember is a stasis tank, dank metallic corridors and strange people…I think scientists were doing something…"

Foxy glanced at the wolf tail. 

"Anyway! I want to explore this place! What's the city like?" Suddenly she was leaping for the open window…

"SIERRA!" Foxy cried out, climbing out into the cold night air and flying straight down to where Sierra…wasn't.

"Do you think I'm that stupid?" Sierra called down, half giggling. "You're not the only one who can fly."

"Get back inside, Sierra! We need to sort this out!"

"Why?" Protested Sierra, a look of courageous defiance in her face which didn't want to be suppressed.

"Because if there were scientists experimenting on you, they'll want you back!"

Sierra thought for a second, hovering mildly in the air, then begrudgingly obeyed.

"By all means, get out there." Foxy suggested, and Sierra wondered for a second why she was being dragged back in here, "But first, you need to make yourself a lot harder to recognize if photos ever make the paper! They'll be searching for you, Sierra!"

A bit of contemplation was necessary, but Sierra finally agreed to Foxy's suggestions of sunglasses and new hairstyle. "Just don't make yourself too conspicuous, okay?" 

Bluehawk sat slumped against the glass window of the door to the apartment building, glad that he had the two chaos emeralds which helped battle drowsiness, as well as a friend on each side, but they needed a home, a place of comfort. Minimaniac had offered, but Bluehawk had reluctantly turned it down for a reason he wasn't really comfortable sharing in the heat of what had happened the last two days. Maybe it was the fact that Mini and KK would be there together so much, and Hawk certainly didn't feel comfortable with couples romanticising right in front of him…maybe it was something to do with having recently visited his old hometown, but in any case. The apartments were being rebuilt, but perhaps that was more out of wanting the building's appearance back rather than graciousness. What Hawk needed right now was a mission to take his mind off his troubles and get him busily helping out again…people walked by, going about their daily lives, looking at the explosion damage but not really fussing over it…they weren't, why should you? Hawk tried to give that impression, although of course it wasn't working too well. "Are you Bluehawk?" Suddenly he looked up to the right to see who had spoken…a group of humans, all in…military gear? "That-that's me." He said vaguely.

"You're coming with us." And before he could even think he was unconcious.

This place was all too familiar…even in his somewhat dizzy state Hawk could see where he was…he was back here…another stupid deja-vu of his past…hadn't Koringhn been enough? He was almost like in a prison…the solitary confinement. It was all stone, the doors, the floor, the walls…had they created this near SoaH, or was he way away from home. "Before you ask to go, this _is_ your home." Bluehawk looked to the door where a pair of human eyes was peeping through the door hatch, the only colour in the room apart from Bluehawk himself. Slowly the hatch closed, and the door clanked and opened, grinding horribly on the ground. "Last I recall, my 'place' here was a lot higher than this."

The human male stepped in slowly. "You broke ranks, kid. A wants to see you."

"Great…" Hawk muttered. The head of this secret service organization. Probably telling him that his rations were docked, blah blah blah…But Hawk obediently followed as soon as he realized that his emerald wasn't with him. The stone walls didn't last long, as they went up a floor it was replaced with polished wood (again, it was everywhere) and a few floors later, the bloke leading him saying absolutely nothing and the blue fox following suit, they reached a door that was painted red.

"Let me guess." Bluehawk muttered. "You've changed the colour coding again."

"Every five years, kid. Get in there."

Bluehawk obeyed, walking into an office with plants every here and there around the walls, a lot of coloured books in the bookshelf next to the back window, and of course the man at his desk. "Sit down, kid."

"What is that, a new ranking?" Hawk scoffed.

"You can't get away like that, kid. It's a lifetime of service-"

"Or nothing."

"You knew that, yet you tried to escape, knowing that we would track down the energy readings from that emerald you stole."

Bluehawk clenched his fists. "Stole? It chose me and I always hated this place."

The human raised his eyebrows. "Either way. We have a mission for you once you've been tested in the training rooms."

Bluehawk kicked the floor with his toe.

"What am I supposed to do?" Sierra said indignantly. The very thought of being locked up in someone else's place all day was more than she could bear.

"If you go outside, take that cell phone with you." Foxy suggested as she began to move out the door for work. "And don't go showing off or making yourself conspicuous!"

"I won't…" Sierra mumbled as Foxy closed the door. _What does she think I am, a baby?_ She thought to herself, making her own way toward the door once Foxy would be safely around the next corner. _No way I'm staying here._ The hallway was empty, completely devoid of life. Certainly quiet…boring enough. She flicked the buttons on the elevator, going to B1, and walked out into a lounge positively full of people. She headed for the door, thankfully not having to push her way through the crowd because it wasn't that tight. This city was awesome during the day, at least at first impression! Better than any she had seen in encyclopaedias. It was near lunchtime, so she headed for the restaurant she saw on the corner of the Y-intersection she was approaching which looked well decorated with a big slice of plastic swiss cheese above the logo. _The cheese hall…interesting enough…_

Bluehawk lashed out both feet, kicking the stands up from the enemy in front of him, which tripped up and was easily thrown away by a kick to its wiry green head. They flew off so easily…he lashed out with a punch at the next one which tried to grab him from behind, and it too was knocked soaring in a yellow blur like its green friend. Suddenly the darkness surrounding him began to fade back into the light of the window, he was in a black room, but the light shined on the floor.

"Last time you did it in three minutes." A crackly voice said loudly.

"And this time?" Bluehawk groaned.

"Four and a half. You've had that emerald too long."

Hawk cursed under his breath. They never used to let up, but he hadn't expected this. 

"Anyway, that's still satisfactory. Back to the office for your briefing."

Bluehawk trudged instead of walking. As far as he saw this was a total waste of time-he had better things to do than follow orders. He had thought he was free of this control over his life, that he was free to do whatever he pleased, but just when that idea sunk in they came back. Such was life really. _You'd have thought I'd be used to this kind of thing…_ He thought to himself. _It's what happens with expectation._ He reached the well-polished office without even realizing it, but A was ready for him. "Your mission. You would not be aware, but recently we received word that a team of scientists lost two test subjects, mutants, humans with wolf tails."

Bluehawk shifted slightly. If he had figured correctly, Eagle…or Darkness, as he now called himself, was a similar mutant. 

"One of them, we believe is near your current hometown, which is why we wanted you on the case. Yes, we are hiring you, not as one of us." Bluehawk's spirits raised, but his pride overcame him.

"What if I don't WANT to do it? What if I thought that maybe these mutants will only turn hostile if you discriminate?" 

"Then we'll get the next man on the list…Saberz the Hedgeho-"

"I'll do it." Bluehawk was suddenly standing up, rigid in a salute. Rivalry was his motive for this now. No way would he let Saberz get a job specifically offered to Hawk!

"Mind if I sit here?" Sierra looked up to the red hedgehog with a dark blue patch on his forehead. 

"Ha, I just got here, the more friends the better." Sierra shrugged. "And your name is?"

"Saberz." He said slowly. 

"I'm Sierra. Nice to meet you." Suddenly another red hedgehog, this one with a tuft of yellow hair and a chef hat, walked up to them. 

"Can I take your orders?" He asked cheerfully, almost grinning.

Sierra looked at the menu. Fried chao? Chao on a stick? Then she saw the descriptions and laughed, just a theme. "I'll have…two fried chao and a Dr. Pepper."

"And you?" The fringed red hedgehog looked to Saberz.

"Burger and a Coke." 

"I'll have it ready in two minutes, thank you!"

The red hedgehog walked away. Sierra stared after him, almost as if in disgust. "Two minutes?"

Saberz chuckled. "When he gives a time, he doesn't hand it over any later."

"No way. If he gets it over here in two minutes, I'm climbing the most walked-past building and singing karaoke from up there at night!"

"Better get rid of tonight's plans, then!" The red hedgehog laughed, putting their meals and drinks in front of them. Sierra couldn't help but drop her jaw. Saberz grinned, close to laughing. "Now…I've seen…absolutely everything…" She stammered.

Bluehawk walked casually among the streets, glad that he wasn't being shoved off straight down to the most distant land mass he cared to think of. Phantom and Sama were standing outside the Reload Centre when Hawk found them close to dusk. "We're already on a paid mission, fellas." Bluehawk stated, without allowing so much as a 'hi'. "So let's not waste time. Got a newspaper, Phantom?" 

Phantom's relief immediately swept out of him and was replaced by new thoughts. Bluehawk was serious about this one. "No, I don't."

"To the newsagent!" Bluehawk pointed heroically. Phantom was vaguely reminded of a Batman parody performed by Nambuk and Shima. Sama followed, laughing raucously, and Phantom was left with little choice but to grin with the joke as they ran about a tenth of a kilometre down the footpath and crossed the road, dodging between cars in the case of Sama. The newspaper thwapped into Bluehawk's hand, the change clanged onto the desk and out they walked. Nothing new-"Mutants on the Loose" _Possible threat to SoaH city_. No new information it seemed really, So Bluehawk tossed this aside into Sama's pack-horsing hands. Phantom glanced around, along the street. "Where are we gonna get some shut-eye?" Bluehawk almost froze. "And by the way, the emerald's owner hasn't been found yet, they haven't been traced since their apartment was blown up." Bluehawk dashed his fist across the air in front of him. He hadn't retrieved his yellow emerald from the stupid Secret Service…maybe they wanted him to earn it back, or keep it permanently…Hawk's face boiled at the thought. At least he had left the red emerald with Phantom, who chucked it over his shoulder upon request. This one was his own for now, not 'stolen' from anyone, merely borrowed. Hawk checked his wrist…they had taken his watch, too! The one Urthdigger gave to him! Another curse under his breath and Bluehawk felt strangely riled up. "Phantom, go and look for some temporary accommodation, ok? Sama and I will continue the mission…you know how to reach us." Phantom obeyed and started running off to find a phonebook. Bluehawk stopped, wondering what to do next as he realized that the sky was now completely black…time had flown, alright. "Sama, no! No breaking windows!" He scolded as Sama began to withdraw from the TV in the window. "No taking things, either!" He added as an afterthought. Sama muttered 'why?' and went to Bluehawk's side, rubbing his eyes. "Tired, huh? Well, Phantom's trying to find accommodation, so you'll have a nice bed soon." But Sama was no longer listening as he muttered in his sleep, clutching Hawk's leg, who rolled his eyes. _Why me…_then he heard it, a soft, echoing voice, some kind of sweet melody, which sounded vaguely familiar, but the voice certainly didn't. It was coming from…up on top of the buildings? Above the lights, that was for sure, or he would be able to place its location much more easily. Cars rushed by, distorting the noise somewhat, but it was definitely a song he had heard before.

Hawk finally reached the top of the ladder, puffing a bit from Sama's weight, as he had decided he couldn't leave him lying around. A stereo sat on the concreted roof, playing fairly loud music, and there was a microphone attached, which was where the voice was singing from…a human girl, but…was that a wolf tail? "The fudge?" Bluehawk exclaimed loudly, the girl turned around with a start, dropping the microphone. "If you're gonna busk, I suggest you do it where people can give you money." He added sarcastically.

"Who…who are you?" She bent down to turn off the music, suddenly everything sounded quiet.

"The name's Dustorm…err…first name's Bluehawk." He added, carefully sidestepping around a complete cliché. The snoring Sama began to loosen his grip on Hawk's ankle, mumbling about a candy shop and a 'shit-load of chocolate.'

"I'm Sierra." She said quietly. "What are you doing on the same roof as me?"

"I'm the cleaner." He said, again with sarcasm. "Curiosity was safe for the fox in this case." Realizing he was being completely confusing, he tried face-value. "Nice singing." He said, dropping his flailing arms to his sides. But Sierra wasn't listening, she was glancing at the clock tower a couple of blocks away on top of city hall. 

"Oh no…I gotta get back to Foxy's! She'll think I was kidnapped or something!" Sierra started madly packing away her things, bending over to wrap the microphone and power cords around the stereo, her wolf tail twitching slightly. 

"Foxy?" Bluehawk asked slowly. "You mean the orange fox girl with two tails? Blue eyes?" 

"Yeah, her. You know her?"

"Not too well, but let's go, I'll get you back there…" Bluehawk turned to climb back down the ladder, then suddenly froze and laughed. "Of course…where IS Foxy's-B'uh!?" In Sierra's place was the view of the rooftop and the starry black sky. Hawk ran forward to the edge of the roof, making sure she hadn't jumped, he looked to the skies, to make sure she hadn't been snatched away by some psycho technicolour bird on the prowl for girls with wolf tails (you could never tell living in such a place) but no such happenings. Teleportation…Phantom wasn't the only one with such an ability.

Sierra got over her teleportation disorientation quickly, considering that this was a fairly new environment. But within seconds Foxy strode in through the door.

"At least you stayed…didn't you?" Foxy said moodlessly.

Sierra shrugged. "I'm not THAT stupid." She grinned to herself, knowing how close it had been…if Bluehawk hadn't turned up…

"I got a week to figure things out, Sierra. Vacation comes early due to exceptional circumstances."

"Tight schedule?" Sierra said with a hint of put-on innocence as Foxy walked to the apartment's kitchen. Suddenly the news flashed onto the TV and Sierra reached under where she was sitting, grabbing the remote which she had failed to observe. The screen showed the North forest and a strange craft among the trees…a big, dark teal craft that, from a bird's eye view, looked like a strangely-shaded oval shape. It stirred some kind of vague memory, it seemed familiar…but nothing came to mind instantly. She had forgotten so much, some kind of memory lapse or modification…

"It seems an unidentified craft has landed in the woods. Since little is known we want all citizens to not leave the SoaH City area till we know who the plane belongs to."

Unidentified craft…it was the scientists, scouring the area like she suddenly realized she knew they would...but then suddenly there was a rapping on the door. "Sierra! Hide!" Foxy called as she went to answer, with the tone of someone saying 'I'll get it!'.


	3. Foxes With a Mission

#3: Foxes With a Mission 

"Hi, Foxy. Is Sierra here?"

Foxy glared back at the room in which Sierra had been. Sierra, from under the couch, recognized that look-_You told me you never left!!_ Well, she had certainly been busted good on that one. Bluehawk walked slowly in and suddenly thought to offer to remove his shoes. Sama followed, grinning, and gazing around in wonder. Sierra began to crawl out from her hiding place. Bluehawk suddenly started off toward the kitchen, calling "Sama! No!" who quickly closed the fridge with an innocent grin. Foxy mouthed exasperatedly at Sierra. _Did you talk to anyone else?_

Sierra thought about lying and decided she'd already been busted once. _Yeah, Saberz the Hedgehog…No-one else._

_Okay, good…I know that guy._ Foxy's expression was relieved when Hawk dragged Sama back to the lounge room. "Now apologize to Foxy and Sierra!"

Sama looked at his shoes. "I sorry fridge and dirty floor." He said morbidly, but still stupidly. 

"That's better." Muttered Hawk, like a frustrated parent to a child who had just kicked their employer's shins. He pushed his sunglasses and cleared his throat. 

"Okay…down to business…have you two read the papers?" Sama nodded. "Not you." Bluehawk thwapped him on the arm with his elbow. Sierra grinned. 

"No, I haven't."

"Well…apparently there's a possible pair of mutants around, so be on the lookout. Oh, and of course if you see a dark blue fox with red sunglasses or a dark blue armadillo with a wacky hairdo, maim them for me." He gave a maniacal grin at this that even he found surprising later. 

"Okay, thanks for coming to warn us." Sierra said cheerfully.

"And it's okay, the mud will be gone in no time!" Foxy winked at Sama, who followed Hawk out the door sheepishly. 

The door closed, and Foxy gave a sigh of relief. "Hawk's looking for you, Sierra."

Sierra looked absolutely repulsed. "I'm no mutant!"

"And how do you know that? You don't remember a lot, do you?" Sierra put her hand to her chin in thought…Foxy was right.

Bluehawk walked into the double hotel room with a heavy heart and heavy fatigue, throwing his jacket on the bed in the room that the three of them had to share. ("Look on the bright side, we get it on the house because they took pity on us!" Phantom had tried to tell Hawk.) 

"Not much good for when we're on an 'important mission'." Hawk retorted as he turned in his bed. 

Sama wasn't too happy about this. "You said be quiet you not quiet! AYAYAYAYAYAYA…"

They weren't able to discuss much from that point on.

Hawk received the newspaper in exactly the same fashion as the previous morning, and kept it folded up in the bag until he got to Sama and Phantom, and they unwrapped it in the hotel room. Foxy reached under her apartment door and pulled the newspaper out from under it, and both foxes, in completely different buildings, looked with widened eyes. There on the front page was a colour picture which hadn't been handed in soon enough for yesterday's paper…of two buildings barring the sides of the photo, but Foxy was flying in the middle and at the very top could be distinctly seen one wolf tail.

"Sierra! We have to get you out of here!" Foxy called. 

"Shoot! It's Foxy! Phantom, I'm outta here! Sama, come with me!" Bluehawk called on his stride out the door.

Sierra looked up blankly. "What?"

Sama blundered out the door, running to catch up with Bluehawk as he walked quickly down the steps, two at a time.

"Sierra! We're outta here! The fire exit, quickly! Bluehawk is usually up fairly early!" Both girls ran out the door and along the corridor.

Hawk was almost pushing the auto-doors open with impatience, the yellow echidna tailing closely.

Foxy flew upwards, leading Sierra to the roof for the leaps toward the North Forest. 

Hawk broke into a light run, Sama caring more for keeping up with Hawk than anything else.

Foxy and Sierra madly dashed toward the cover of the trees…

_Tap tap tap tap tap!_

_THUD!_

"Sama! No headbutts!"

"Sorry…" 

But the door remained unopened. "Foxy! You there? HELLO?" The mutant had got to her. He knew Foxy was innocent, but was the wolf-tailed human? He had thought, before he knew for sure that she was new, that the wolf-tail thing was something else. But she was the mutant he was searching for. He opened the door, worried about what he might find…nothing in the lounge room, or any other room, Sama was again fossicking in the fridge and got a stern 'no!' from Bluehawk, who saw the dining table. A newspaper was unopened on the table in front of a half-finished bowl of cereal. Sama glanced furtively at the bowl, Hawk said 'no!' again…they had found the report…but what the heck was going on? It could have been perfectly innocent, but then the breakfast bowl completely demolished that idea. The apartment was left unlocked with no-one in it, too. Suddenly Bluehawk realized something he had only noticed subconsciously, and walked out the door a few paces, looking right. The fire exit door was open, and far out the door he could see the North Forest, the one which had been half-destroyed by lava flows…that was where they were. "Come, Sama!"

Foxy and Sierra made their way as deep into the forest as they could, being spotted on the way by a cloaked figure, which made sure they were out of sight before pursuing in the general direction. If he were hostile, he'd have a radio, but he wasn't hostile…Sierra would recognize him instantly, surely. But about halfway through the day the clouds began to close in, thickening, until raindrops finally started their descent. Foxy cursed that she never checked the weather…

"There's a cave over there, c'mon, quick!" Sierra pointed, Foxy sighed. But it was fortunate, because as soon as they got in the rain came down in torrents, removing visibility. "We won't be found easy now." Foxy shrugged. 

Bluehawk grabbed Sama's arm and ran as fast as he could through the trees, using the red emerald for extra strength. But the rain completely soaked off his attempt at pursuit, the visibility was so low that he had to slow down, and that made him and Sama get cold and wet. "I see cave, we hide please?" Sama pleaded. Bluehawk nodded slowly, water dripping from his chin. They approached the huge pile of rock and greeted the dark shade happily, the shelter from the rain, but no sooner had Hawk begun to shake off the water than was he seeing complete black and didn't even know it.

His eyes finally began to open lazily, and Hawk went to rub his head. "Anyone get the number on that cruiser?" He mumbled. Something shifted in the darkness, making a soft noise. Sama sat at his right, eyes open and blinking, still dripping slightly, and that's when Hawk realised he was cold and wet. "You've come to!"

Bluehawk whirled around suddenly, almost jumping right up. Sierra. In moments he had kicked upwards and caught his flipping gun from the air. "Get back mutant!" he cried. The figure of Sierra moved out of the shadows. 

"If I was so hostile I wouldn't have left you with your emerald."

"Where's Foxy?" Hawk shouted, getting right to the chase.

"A bit further in, looking for a secondary exit." Sierra shrugged. "Long passage." 

Hawk's suspicion was eased slightly, but not destroyed. Sama looked up at him like a child who had been interrupted from his toys by a clanging noise and wanted his parent to investigate. 

"How…do I know I can trust you?"

Suddenly a crack of a door in the back wall began to light up, and Foxy ducked through casually with a small flame on a stick. "Oh, Hawk!" She gave a start.

"What's going on?" Hawk queried, a tone of impatience.

"Sierra's on the run from scientists, that's all we know."

Bluehawk gave a scowl of mistrust.

"All I remember is a few images." Sierra said sadly. "I remember being in a stasis tank and escaping because of a fault in the tranquilization…not enough or something…next thing I can recall, I'm running through this forest as fast as I can, then I'm waking up and Foxy is bringing me home, and you seem to have pieced together the rest."

Bluehawk scowled again. "I've been hired to bring you back into custody, but employers aren't my main concern. Who's to say that you won't snap-"(Bluehawk snapped his fingers)"-at any moment, start rampaging through innocents, however little you think you will?"

Sierra went to speak.

"And if you do, might I add, I've faced a mutant before only days ago, I can handle you." Sama stood up and walked to Hawk's side slowly, confusedly, trapped between what he was already told and loyalty to his leader and legal guardian. Sierra raised her eyebrows.

"You're right, you can't completely trust me…and neither can I you. But if you're fighting to protect innocents, then help me out as long as I'm innocent and by all means take me down when I'm not!"

Foxy looked between them, ready to jump in the middle at the first sign of a fight.

"Good, now that's all sorted out-"

"Brilliantly said, Sierra." Exclaimed a new voice, male, from the cave entrance. A cloaked figure strode in through the door, Bluehawk backed up slightly, ready to aim and shoot at the first sign of trouble…but Sierra was stirring in some kind of memory…suddenly her face lit up.

"JASON!" She screamed, Hawk blocked his ears against the high-pitched squeals of delight as she ripped off the cloak and the teenage boy underneath tried to grab it back, complaining that it was cold. Then Hawk saw. Another wolf tail. Foxy grinned.

"I see you two know each other."

Bluehawk seemed to be weighing things up in his mind, go for money and prevent risks of their madness, or help to hide the innocents? Mere hours ago he had been worried for Foxy's safety, but Sierra had been so natural when explaining her situation…either she was genuine or should have taken up a career in acting…he made up his mind for a moment, went back into thought, then made it again. They were innocents for now.

It was a few hours before the rain finally began to let up, and the afternoon sun made the outdoors look very green. But Bluehawk was deep in thought, not really noticing. Scientists…stasis tubes…that meant they were highly advanced scientists then, but then again there was some kind of fault which allowed these two to escape. The Secret Service didn't know who they were working for, why should Bluehawk even trust the source? He wouldn't get paid at this rate, but the pay wasn't as important as upholding peace, right? Besides, if they ever got off their backsides and checked their sources…before he could even think to walk outside, everyone was running into the cave. "Sama! Get in here!" Then he saw why…a huge shadow of an airship was moving over the forest…and it looked so familiar…

Sierra whimpered as she ducked into the shadows. 

"I just hope they don't have thermal scanners…" Moaned Jason.

Bluehawk murmured something under his breath…it was almost like a chimera cruiser, but not quite. It was a fair bit smaller, and its shape was a fair bit different, and of course it had jets out the bottom, while chimeras always used hovering devices. It was dropping smaller ships, which headed straight down into the forest to land and fan out…could so many people be after the mutants? Bounty Hunters, no doubt. SoaH City was full of them. "Stay here, everyone. I'm doing some reconnaissance-"

"You mean telling them where we are?" Sierra grunted.

"If I was really still after you, don't you think I'd try to get the job done on my own?" 

"Shut up, both of you!" Foxy shouted suddenly, shocking both of them and they looked at her, her eyes raging between them. "And stay here, Hawk. Anything could go wrong."

And it was. Hovering bikes and assorted cars were slushing through the mud to a halt right in front of the cave.

"What is it you want?" Bluehawk stormed out of the cave, and was almost blasted back by the loudness of the megaphone. 

"We know the mutants are there. Both of them. Out of the way, all three of you!" Saberz indicated to Hawk, and Foxy and Sama who were following him out. 

"You fool, Saberz." Bluehawk growled, stepping forward and further into the way. "I had a friend once…but he was experimented on by human scientists and went completely mad."

Saberz laughed as more hunters moved into position around and behind the cars, pointing guns straight at the trio. Bluehawk suddenly realized how little he had realized the passing of time…it was nearly night. "Exactly. He went mad. Now hand them over before they do the same-"

"WENT MAD BECAUSE PEOPLE LIKE YOU WERE FOOLISH ENOUGH TO JUDGE HIM!!" Bluehawk snapped right out of control, breathing heavily through clenched teeth and a huffing black nose. Saberz was taken aback slightly. "Besides, I seem to recall that you were a similar experiment yourself!" There were murmurings from around the group of gun-toters. Bluehawk had struck a weak point.

"That's different! I was created, they were-"

"How is it different?" Hawk shot back, before Saberz could finish. "Both with modified DNA. Both owe their powers to a team of scientists…both being pursued by those teams." Bluehawk gave a sly smile. Saberz looked nervously around the gunmen, who remained somewhat perplexed, but were ready to shoot at any time. Suddenly there were gunshots from behind them…a car with flashing lights suddenly shot up into the air, bursting into flames as it flipped over sideways. The next one was suddenly frozen over, encased in ice before the first one hit it, slid off and set fire to the next…there was a chain reaction of orange flashes as the gunmen all fled in different directions, Saberz remaining with the megaphone and a sickeningly shocked expression as he ran forward as far as he could from the flames, finally collapsing into the mud when the force of hot wind and orange light subsided. And standing behind the wreckage, different coloured pistols in hand…Bluehawk raised a fist with a 'woot!'

"Urthdigger! Timing couldn't be better!" Hawk grinned, Foxy looking stunned, Sama looking as confused as usual. The orange flickers of the flaming car bottoms on the trees distracted Hawk slightly as he realized, again, how quickly the sky was darkening…wait, that was partially the ship with the flashing light on the bottom, making another pass…Suddenly Bluehawk thought. "Saberz!"

"Sir, it's okay, I have them in custody, and…guys? NO! It's all fine! It's under control!"

Urthdigger stopped in his tracks between the cars. "What's going on?"

_Saberz had a sudden change of heart, that's what's going on!_ Hawk thought, gazing up at the ship…the chimera cruiser. Sierra and Jason rushed out to what promised to be a battle scene, Foxy and Sama greeted them with vividly scared looks through the darkness, but the humans caught only silhouettes…and suddenly green light shot out and enswarmed them all from above…

It was an absolutely huge room, large metal shapes, all in groups of the same, scattered all over, in various sizes. Except for a straight route from the centre, where everyone involved but Saberz stood, looking around. Sierra gasping in bucket-loads of flashbacks. Jason trying to comfort her. Sama trembling at the knees, his hands over the gap between his legs as if trying to hide something. Foxy looking around in wonder. Urthdigger glancing around calmly, but with a hint of angry determination to get out as soon as he spotted a flaw in the floor plan. But then the door, which appeared miniscule from the centre of the huge hanger, suddenly slid upwards…a black hedgehog with purple-striped spines and the back of his ear purple like a scar strode toward them, followed by two similar creatures, in different colours and uniform of some kind. Lirash, the one with purple spines, glared at Bluehawk first, then at Sierra and Jason.

"A mighty fine catch!" He presented them to the guards, who made a weird noise which Bluehawk decided was laughter. "We get the tests AND the master's worst enemy back!"

"Tell 'the master' that the feeling is mutual." Bluehawk growled, absolute hatred in his tone. 

"Why should I when you can do it yourself?" Lirash scoffed. "Oh, and I don't think he wants you to have that." Suddenly the chaos emerald zipped into Lirash's hand. "Subjects first." Sierra gave a despairing moan as guns appeared on her at all sides. Jason glared at each and every one of the five chimera guards. They marched off back toward the door as two more guards started pushing Bluehawk, Foxy, Sama and Urthdigger along. Urth mouthed an idea to him, a spell he could use. Bluehawk shook his head. He had a better idea than to have Urth fall asleep when he was most needed. 

Bluehawk left his fellow fighters to be shunted into Bloodhawk's usual 'throne room'. It wasn't on the same ship, but the layout was barely changed, it all looked just as the one in which he had escaped through the window out in space. The chair whirled around just like last time, Bloodhawk having hands clasped on his chest, twiddling his fingers, wearing those red sunglasses. "Persistent one, Mykol."

"Cowardly one, Stryke." Hawk retorted with the best he could be bothered to waste on his brother. "Yeah, that's right. I picked up the name tag." Hawk frowned angrily. 

"I see."

"So, you still need others to do your bidding before you try to do things? What kinda name is 'Stryke', anyway? Try something original, like Gigyas or Mr. Cheese."

Bluehawk whirled around as the door whizzed open again, and the dark blue armadillo, Darkness, walked in. "They are safely tranquilized." He bowed. Bluehawk saw it all come together. 

"So! I already figured the black shiny guys were allies to chimeras, but what's this? Chimeras have been using them to do your bidding? They probably captured those two humans you-"

"ENOUGH!" Stryke bellowed, standing now. It was working…sorta. Stryke pulled out the red emerald, and then in turn the dark blue one. 

"I can blast you to your death right now, with as much pain as I desire. Darkness here will hold you down, maybe even toss you out the window again."

Bluehawk grinned. "Last I recall, it was me who did the throwing there." Stryke fired a warning blast of chaos energy at the door, it bounced off and hit the bottom of the chair that he had been sitting on, breaking the stand and toppling it. Stryke gritted his teeth in rage, knowing that that was his own fault.

But Hawk was surprised what happened next-Stryke picked the smart way out. He pressed a small button on his wrist pad, guards immediately ran in through the opening door and grabbed Hawk by the shoulders, dragging him out with no way to attack. "Allow me a few minutes before I see anyone else today, Darkness." Stryke waved him away with his hand. "Send the subjects to the lab and place the other three in the laser cells under heavy guard…make sure you check up on the weapon, too…be sure that it is well fed…" There was a tone in Stryke's voice which Hawk didn't like at all.

The two guards dragging Hawk said nothing, although they hadn't yet bothered to try searching him. _They must be planning to do that when we get to the others._ Hawk thought to himself. Suddenly one of them looked to the other and they both stopped…they were saying something to each other…then suddenly they started snorting and laughing. They were planning something…Then suddenly Hawk was being lifted…and he saw the spaghetti of wires that weren't ceiling-ed over, wires of every colour to go with the metallic red of the walls…and they were buzzing. He was being lifted up further, further…then it felt slightly slack as one consulted the other, perhaps about lowering him…that's when he raised his arms and grabbed the wires with his gloved hands, kicking at both sides, feeling his shoes connecting with faces as they reeled backwards from shock…electric shock. The gun whipped out of the kicking foot and blood was smeared on the already red walls from the holes in two chimera heads. Hawk cringed at the echoing bang and ran for the door to which he was being dragged. 

Foxy screamed with shock and Urthdigger cringed violently as a door slammed open and four gunshots echoed around the room, piercing the nearby doors and emanating through the corridors. Bluehawk lowered his gun slowly, the silence settling in. Foxy and Urthdigger finally lifted their hands from their ears. "Maybe I should have used the silencer. Where are the mutants?"

Urthdigger's long face crumpled slightly. "They're in stasis…" Foxy moaned. "If we try to break their tubes they'll be teleported to the next cruiser."

"Let's get out now, then." Bluehawk looked up at the door, then down at the four Chimeran puddles of blood…two of them lay face down, one on his back and the other slumped against a wall, a trail of blood streaking down the wall above him…then everyone cringed as the ear-splitting, tearing of metal echoed through the room and the wall opposite the door tore itself in half, splitting as if it were sewn with light threads…and Hawk saw why in the darkness behind it…two glowing cyan eyes…pointing downward in evil rage…bodied by a yellow glow… "Darkness." Hawk snarled.

"I was not always this…" Eagle claimed, walking out slowly, his cyan eyes flashing of darker blue. 

"You two, go. Get out of the ship!" Bluehawk called behind him, seconds later hearing hurried footsteps on steel. 

"The old 'I'll-keep-him-talking' tactic?" Eagle retorted, taking slow strides toward Bluehawk, who was stepping back fearfully. "Ha…you should know me better than that…" at once he attempted a strike at Hawk's stomach with an icy fist and was blinded by white light…corridors down, Foxy looked back at the reflections on the steel walls and floor, which were slowly turning to violet as they ran past a startled chimera talking on a headset. Bluehawk looked down, Darkness looked up as his own light began to fade into invisibility, as Bluehawk's fur glowed a brilliant shiny violet. Hawk studied his own arms, not quite understanding, but Darkness knew full well. 

"You have been exposed to high quantities of your element." He said, fading even further into the air, bending light around himself. "The energy is absorbed, rather than destructive…this will be enjoyable…"

Hawk hovered back to the ground, extending his arms outward and releasing electricity into the steel floor, which began shooting it straight back out in randomised places just as Foxy and Urthdigger passed an insulator panel. So, he had the power to absorb electricity…how much energy was Sama building up, having withstood an explosion and a fiery pit? It explained why Phantom was so powerful sometimes, he was in constant contact with the element that chose him…Eagle was suddenly taken aback as a huge blast of electricity reached him, sending him hurtling back through the hole he created with a crash, and right through the other side of the dark room. Hawk waited silently, not even lowering his outstretched fist…Eagle didn't seem to be through there any more-then suddenly he was receiving punches all over from an invisible foe, and understood…Eagle had claimed to be the master of stealth so long ago…this was why…Hawk received one final punch of power and slammed straight into the wall behind him, dissolving as he contacted into glowing particles…Darkness stood, puzzled, and stepped cautiously toward where Hawk had disappeared…he felt a slight prickling in his feet, like electrical energy…Then suddenly Hawk appeared out of the steel as if it were air with an electrical flying drill punch, hitting Eagle into the air before grabbing his leg and swinging him at the cold hard steel floor with a slam. "Had enough?" Hawk's sunglasses glinted in the shine from the reflection of his own light. 

The invisible Eagle, detected by the noise of his footsteps, brushed himself off. "If that's your all…"


	4. Shadows of Nothing

****

Chapter 4:Shadows of Nothing

"I haven't even begun to-WHOOF!" Suddenly Hawk was thrown back by a swift punch to the gut…followed quickly by a strong kick, sending him flying into the wall. Hawk kicked backward at it, flew forward at Eagle, pinning him by the shoulders, rolling forward a few times, then kicked upward into the air, driving his sparring partner upward, and then downward into the floor to make a bigger dent. Hawk instantly kicked Eagle away from punch range with a spin kick…just in time as Eagle tried to do the same thing, then slid along the steel floor, finally coming to rest a few metres from the crunched wall he had come from. Then Hawk stepped back as the armadillo form suddenly turned to ice. Hawk walked up slowly, his look of confusion becoming a scowl of taunt, then whammed the front of his shoe into his foe's face. Nothing happened…then the end of Hawk's leg dropped off. The small port at the end of his stump showed the signs of it being attached like a computer wire…as did the end of the other piece. Hawk bent over, grabbed the end of his leg and the shoe which carried things inside it, because there was no foot in it. Then Hawk looked up as he re-fitted the piece. The cyan eyes were glowing again. That strange foggy mist coming from his eyes had no halt…Hawk adjusted his sunglasses. Pulled out his gun. Lowered the barrel to the head of the ice statue…then suddenly it sprang to life, grabbing Hawk's wrist with infinite cold…the gun fell to the floor. Hawk lashed out with his other wrist at the transparent pale blue-white statue, come to life through Akise power. Then Hawk suddenly threw his other foot forward, whacking the ice again just before it shattered, and Eagle was back as before. 

"You never did that before…"

"I cannot stay the same armadillo you knew forever…"

Eagle lashed out with a kick, coated in frosty air. Thunderhawk jumped back, then flew forward through the air with a fly-kick…Eagle went straight through the wall-hole he had created, fell back into an almost invisible hole…Hawk ran forward and crouched, looking down…a steel pipe of some sort, a curve just a bit further down turning it into a slide. Nothing else for it. Thunderhawk swept his legs over the hole, dropping them in, pushing himself over the back wall for extra safety. The slide turned abruptly forward at the end of the descent, then sloped down again as Hawk slid his fingers along the ceiling. Then suddenly the bottom dropped out and Hawk fell right into the wall, then backwards onto the steel floor of a corridor…straight into Darkness' rising fist as chimeras ran for cover every which way. Hawk hit the ground hard head-first, steadied himself as he pushed himself up, gripping his head and the dull thudding pain to stop the vibrations. Eagle was ruthless in his fight and spin-kicked Hawk in the same place again, knocking him back further…Hawk slid into the steel floor again…Darkness stood, waiting to lash out the fist that would rebound his new attack. But it did not come.

Foxy leapt back in surprise as a shaft of electricity shot into the air and materialized as a violet fox which dropped to the ground. Urthdigger seemed more surprised that there were no guards in the hallways. "Keep going, third left, then fourth right, and follow the green line." Hawk puffed. "It goes back to the tractor beam room." Suddenly there was the clang of feet hitting thin metal from the other end of the corridor. "RUN!!" Urthdigger and Foxy exchanged glances, and took off…Hawk ducked just in time as a foot swung over his head, then instantly got a fast fist in the face, knocking him backward and onto the floor. Darkness loomed up toward him, the cyan glow of his eyes, the rest invisible…but Hawk knew what he was doing…quickly, suddenly, as he felt the chill of cold hands near him he lashed out his cybernetic leg, which instantly was encased in ice, leaving the rest intact. 

"How!?" He grunted, almost monotone…if only Hawk possessed the Eighth Emerald right now, to know his purity level…no time to think of that as he tried to get up, ailed by the leg encased in ice. Then he gathered his strength again, wondering why Eagle was just standing there, then lifted his iced leg, letting it down with a loud thunk. Lucky it was his natural resistance, though he never knew why. Then suddenly the ice was up in defence of more ice…Bluehawk twisted his other foot for a spin which Darkness seemed to duck, then Hawk tried again, lowering at the last second…_THUNK!_ There was the sound of an armadillo sprawling to the floor. No way. He couldn't be knocked unconcious…Thunderhawk took the chance of the possum though. The sooner he could escape the better. Zapping the ice with pointed fingers. He ran forward, over the top of Darkness' invisibly limp form and taking care to step on his gut. He writhed slightly, but no more than that and his limbs slumped limply again…Hawk ran around a corner and headed for the exit…then was suddenly thrown forward by a blast of icy cold…frozen solid, still in his elemental form. Eagle walked forward, examining his handiwork. The chimeras would pay heftily for such an achievement…but what was this? That purple glow, still emnating from the ice? Was he still concious? Impossible, he was encased in ice, a WALL of ice…then suddenly a wave of purple energy fired out of the still purple figure as it faded to blue, lights went out, gadgets instantly shut off, sparking slightly. The wave kept going through walls, engulfing the entire ship…everything seemed to remain still for a few seconds. Then Eagle suddenly rose to the roof, gravity seemed to reverse and much more strongly, slamming him straight into the steel, Thunderhawk remaining in the ice…then suddenly it reversed again with fifty times its power, killing every chimera in the cruiser except for one, plus Eagle. Bloodhawk stood in his half-crushed command room, holding two chaos emeralds and wondering why the hell all of the power had just shut off…but then again, he had sensed it. That electrical wave. Pesnah…were his senses weakened due to elemental rivalry? That that was all that he could sense? He knew that a battle was going on thanks to security. But he didn't sense a thing.

Suddenly the ice shattered. Darkness had left the room, probably escaped the ship. Bluehawk ran in the direction of the tractor beam exit, which was probably half-destroyed.

"Kuso. Not another one." Minimaniac exclaimed.

"Another what?" KK asked worriedly, running to where Mini was watching the TV.

"Another chimera cruiser just flew over the north forest…then suddenly dropped. Bang-thump-smash. Just like that. And you know what that means."

KawaiiKitsune suddenly donned a facial expression of fear. 

"Only thing that can cause a Chimera Cruiser to do that is the presence of Hawk and or Phantom. Every time they get into one of those things, they blow it up one way or another…but by the looks of it, it was two other people who escaped. No-one familiar…but Hawk's handiwork is in there somewhere…"

Half of the wall had been completely crushed and smashed apart, which was fortunate when Hawk realized the tractor beam was in direct contact with the ground…this way he could just slip out. Unnoticed. Untouched. Back to the city, and fast. Escape from Eagle…and his revenge-bent brother…

"Shoot. Not cool."

"What's not cool?" Foxy began as Urthdigger flicked buttons on his watch, and tried again. 

"If only…I'd thought…" He puffed, running as fast as he could back toward the city. "To put in a little buzzer to indicate whether it's not getting the message or just not responding!!"

"D'you think he got out?" Foxy shuddered.

"Knowing Hawk, you can never be sure…" Urthdigger mumbled, leaping out of the way of a tree. "D'you think it's worth me sacrificing fatigue to run faster?"

*****

Phantom looked over the forest, hoping to see the smallest sign of Bluehawk or Sama's presence. It was a whole twelve hours since the Cruiser dropped, and Hawk and Sama weren't back at the city yet. Not good news. Phantom headed straight for the downed cruiser…maybe they were trapped inside…the huge teal mass of metal ellipses loomed out of the darkness, sitting embedded in the masses of rock left behind from the Akise Chamber. It had just passed the edge of the trees. But there was something odd about it…three huge holes in the roof, one burned, one simply torn outwards, and the other one with a giant anthill of ice over it…maybe that tear was Hawk's doing…too soon to tell. But three people, maybe more considering the crushed sides, had escaped somehow…

Urthdigger got up lazily and checked the time. Only about six hours since he got home, still dead-tired. Not worth working on inventio-wait. The watch, he had to make a few alterations to that…make it know when the message can't be received…but how? There was no way to 'rebound' a radio frequency…but then again, the watches detected exactly where each other were and sent messages directly…but that was no help, it was still via radio! If only there was another way…

Bluehawk crawled along his hotel rooftop, trying to make a discreet entrance. He ducked into the hatch and into the corridors, moving quietly down through the floors to his room. There were things to figure out. A Sama to save from the derelict chimera cruiser. And why the hell did Eagle side with the Chimeras? Even if his intentions were noble, he was going to cause nothing but chaos. He was smarter than that, so it was impossible. Unless there were unforseen factors at hand. There had to be. Maybe the chimeras wanted to conquer the planet because their own had exploded or become desolate. Or maybe…Hawk tried to push all thoughts away as he turned the doorknob. He had to stop speculating…focus on the mission assigned to him by the secret service…suddenly something hit him and sunk like an anchor trying to swim. The chimeras were the ones who wanted Sierra and Jason recovered, which they succeeded with. The secret service had sent him on a mission for the chimeras! No, they must have been biased against the mutants, thinking the chimeras were hedgehogs…but the secret service had data files on that sort of thing! Wouldn't they know? …he had to find their base ASAP, but where the hell was it? Then he suddenly saw that the TV was on…

Nothing. A full scan and nothing, no life forms, no electrical systems going. Sama and Bluehawk didn't show up as dead, either. Phantom cursed under his breath at the tiny screen at the front of his modified glider, then moved the steel sheet back over it and turned around. This whole mass of teal steel had nothing in it any more. Nothing even worth stealing…probably, anyway…all electrical gadgets permanently deactivated…no wonder the hovering devices conked out, an EMP wave was the only explanation. There was only one chimera who could do that, and he was dead. Hawk's lightning form, maybe? Phantom jumped onto his glider and flew back toward the city…knowing for certain that the burned hole was Sama…the ice hole…it couldn't be HT-4!?

Foxy sat up, alarmed, looking at the TV screen in front of her. News Flash. Scratch Sierra and Jason for now, the city itself was in major trouble…

"A rouge 'Underground Gang' has invaded the city hall and taken it over, they are well armed. No-one has been able to enter the building and come back out... alive. The Gagsters have so far uttered only one brief sentence to convey their intentions, 'Kill them all.' We haven't got any other information on the situation, but knowing the history of SoaH City, There are probably already Citizens getting ready to do something no one else ca..."

Suddenly a red light appeared from the direction of city hall on the screen and filled the whole thing, which almost instantly became static as Foxy's fear grew ever worse. Then she realized it had been live. Suddenly the newsroom was on the screen. 

"We've apparently lost transmission from the barricade. We're trying to find out what happened now…"

The reader checked the paper handed out to him, and his eyes grew wide with shock. 

"What is it?" asked his co-reader.

"This just in... Oh my God... The barricade has just been destroyed by a weapon of some kind...witnesses say a red beam jumped from inside the capitol and vaporized the barricade... oh dear God..." 

"Yup Jake, saw the news, I'm going in tonight. Activate my clearance card and make sure the others don't interfere." Urthdigger glanced at his bag of holding, then instantly went off to pack everything he could possibly need into it…even the lock pick, seeing Phantom fly past just outside the window, surveying the red smoke.

__

'Kill them all.' Bluehawk thought to himself. Nothing before had ever expressed such hatred for life to his knowledge. _'Kill them all.'_ It had said. Too bad they hadn't recorded it, someone may possibly have recognized the voice. But 'Kill them all'? It was the time for action that night. During the day, he would be spotted and beamed upon the approach. For all he knew, they had night-vision, too. Suddenly there was a loud knock on the door and Phantom walked in abruptly. "What's with the red smoke near city ha-" Then he saw Bluehawk's face as he pressed his shades into the darkest position possible.

"You're going, aren't you?"

"And I'm going alone this time. Stealth is priority one." 

Phantom didn't bother to argue. "Where's Sama?"

Bluehawk looked out the window, as if evasively. "I don't know."

People were panicked. No-one dared go near city hall, and all stayed in their homes throughout the day. Even the shops were locked up and the wind blew eerily throughout the streets. Not like any normal crisis, in which people would go on about their lives, and many would try to solve the problem. Even the police were a hopeless rabble, disorganized due to their home base being right next to City Hall. The rest of the day remained chaotic…then night fell, the blanket of darkness covering the whole city. In an instant, the downed cruiser was forgotten when it shouldn't have been, the second the report hit the news and the red smoke rose. Bluehawk made a silent dash toward the city hall, which had been sealed off by plastic striped walls and abandoned out of fear. Everything was silent except for the wind and the lit windows, shadows moving past them as if not expecting attack, or not caring. Hawk jumped up, gripped the top of the thin plastic wall which was hurriedly installed on the side-street to the hall. The police were completely thrown out by this, it seemed. Lucky the mayor was on vacation, and the other executives operated from other areas. Bluehawk hoisted himself up and over, dropping as silently as he had once been taught, then made the speedless dash to the nearest wall from which he couldn't be seen. He could have sworn one of the creatures inside saw him. Then suddenly he heard a voice in his head. _Up the wall to the roof._ He looked up at the wall…that was going to need both emerald and run-up…big risks, but what else could he do? Some kind of mind force…definitely not evil, it had something calming about it…was suggesting a strategy. Hawk crept around to the side of the building, avoiding alerting anything up there, and found the wall flat all the way up, making sure there were no windows, and ran away from it, ran straight into it and up, backflipping at the top where his legs had nothing to run on and landing on his butt. _Damn, gotta work on that one._ He thought to himself, and suddenly saw the figure in front of him. "NK!" He whispered.

"Keep it down. You of all people should know how sound travels at night."  
"How'd you contact me like that?" Hawk whispered, edging along the roof.

"Telepathy…but there's something odd about the things down there."

Bluehawk looked down…his instincts, not just the evidence, were telling him the same thing. He sensed something…but didn't know what.

"There's a hatch just over there. Your gun is loaded, your emerald charged?"

"Of course. We'll split up when we get down there, it'll be harder to keep track of us seperately." 

Bluehawk removed the panel cautiously, knowing he's taking a step into and against the absolute unknown. He pokes his head in, upside-down, and the coast is clear on the red carpet. "Shoot first, ask questions later." NK said from behind. "Go."

Hawk dropped down, admiring the paintings of the city council…hey, there was a picture of Nambuk up there! To think, that all this was happening at once. First the mutants, then suddenly an attack of…what was it? NK dropped down behind him, shifting the panel back into place as he fell. "I'll go that way." NK decided. "You go the way behind me."

It was pointless to argue, though Bluehawk had no idea what the hell NK's reasoning was. He went past him at a jog, and turned right around the corridor.

Suddenly it turned around a corner. A humanoid black figure, just like the ones which attacked Koringhn. Hawk stared from his end of the corridor, it stared back with its green-goggled eyes…not red this time. Then it ran straight at him. Hawk stood his ground. Then suddenly just as he thought it was about to unleash a blow it turned and backflipped at him with a katana drawn. Hawk rolled forward, brushing the wall as it slashed a portrait of Neon Chaos. He used a crane scratch at the shiny black figure's feet, and suddenly realized what he was sensing. An electronic being. It lashed out with a kick, Bluehawk lashed out a hand, and a small light shot out of it, hitting the shadow man in the leg…he twitched a few times, before falling forward to the ground. Hawk crouched for a few seconds, still in shock. He had expected something completely new, not a shadow of the past…but whatever kind of robot this thing had turned out to be, it had all-new AI. Hawk lifted himself up, brushed himself off, and ran to keep going. Suddenly there was a loud beep from his watch. NKLS' voice. "Found anything?"

Hawk clicked the 'reply' button and spoke. "It's a new model of Shadow-men! I think I just took one of them out!"

There was a wait before the reply as Hawk dashed down the stairs to the next floor.

"New model? What d'you mean?"

"It's some kind of android." Hawk suddenly stopped as he hit the balcony above the entrance lobby. 

"Guys! What the hell are you two doing here-" Urthdigger's voice! NK cut over the top, apparantly not hearing…how could NK contact the watch, anyway? …and it was working again!

"I've found ano-" suddenly there was static. Hawk looked down into the lobby. There were loud rumbles coming from below, the noise of steel clashes…

"Hawk! What's going on!?"

He didn't reply, but swung himself over the balcony rail and hit the floor with the sound of loud footsteps on marble tiles. Then suddenly whipped around as he sensed movement behind him. Two green glowing eyes leered out of the darkened corridor…Hawk rolled aside just in time as a red laser fired straight out of the corridor, engulfing the door and tossing it outside. It didn't seem to be so sure it hadn't got him and walked forward slowly. Typical, it was an AI unit. Then out lashed Hawk's hand, sending out that tiny electrical pulse into its face…there was a clang as its facial plate dropped off, revealing the green lights and curcuitry. Hawk lashed out a foot, whacking it in the face, causing it to fall over…he felt energy going from the emerald into himself…so those EMP shots drained him of energy. Suddenly there was a loud shout from above…a red shape smashed through another balcony rail and fell to the floor…a katana straight through its stomach. NKLS. The shadow dropped to the ground, ready to take out its prey for the pure sake of the kill. Hawk outstretched his hand and nothing happened. Out of power. Then out came the Lazuli Blade as he used a different thought pattern. The shadow walked over to its last prey quickly, and ripped out its weapon as NK howled with pain. The katana glowed green…became like the Lazuli Blade…then Hawk realized the whispers. "Jade Katana." They said menacingly. Someone who knew him well designed these things. Hawk lashed out a sword and the black android answered with a parry and an upward slash which Hawk barely dodged, hitting it with his own blade and pushing himself into the air, flipping over the thing's head sword held out straight to slash again, but this was also blocked. Hawk landed on the floor mere feet away and pulled his hand free of the blade. This was a move it couldn't imitate. It ran straight for him, Jade Katana outstretched for a fatal stab. Suddenly the Lazuli Blade was spinning like a fan without a breeze, creating a circular shield of energy…then tiny bits of the Jade Katana were dropping off in a wave, the same wave which cut up the entire body a split second later. Tiny pieces littered the floor at Hawk's feet like rubble or cat-food. Urthdigger suddenly appeared from the doorway to the left from the entrance. "I'm okay." NK wheezed.

"You should be dead!" Urthdigger exclaimed, shocked. Bluehawk stood weakly.

"Let's find all of the people who work here." Bluehawk muttered. NK got up and walked, breaking into a run up the stairs which had recently been repaired after damage from a goop-zombie attack which all three of them remembered well. Through a door, another hallway and into a room which wasn't lit at all. Bluehawk ran straight into NK's back and stumbled, almost falling over, hearing eerie drips on carpet. "Let's GO, eN-"

Suddenly Urthdigger ran into Bluehawk's back, Bluehawk fell forward into NK's again and Urth and Hawk both fell backwards. Bluehawk suddenly felt deathly cold as he got up, feeling a warm sensation on his gloved hand. He suddenly knew what it was…not caring that NK had just left the room…Urthdigger stumbled again into something hanging from the roof just as the lights switched on. Bluehawk's eyes remained closed. He had no desire to see what was all around him…what was staining the walls. What was flowing through him, and every other living creature in the universe save a select few. Urthdigger gave a startled cry, realizing what he had stumbled into. A dead, hanged body. There were shards of furry all over the floor, blood still seeping into the carpet from them…another brutally twisted fox lay horribly in the corner, one arm wrapping right around his neck three times…Bluehawk had to hold his meals in with a struggle when he saw that one echidna had been strangled to death with his own pink, slimy intestines. He had seen blood before. He had basically breathed it. But this…this was of innocents. This was brutal…sick…so utterly twisted. How could even a machine be willing to cause so much pain, to kill people so creatively? Three bloodied figures lay impaled on long wooden spear-like pikes. Hawk turned away, out the door, up two flights of stairs and to the roof. The cold air bit mercilessly at the wet areas of his clothes, slowly drying and congealing the blood, blowing the smell wayward. Urthdigger walked up next to him, followed by NK on the other side.

"The Shadow Men." Bluehawk said slowly. "If they're back, that means whoever created them is back too. If we play our cards right, we can get to the bottom of them and stop an even stronger model being created. This is where it begins, be on guard for the slightest of strange happenings."

All three of them turned suddenly to the sound of distant sirens.

"Reload Centre, 6:30 tomorrow evening. Just like old times." Hawk stared unblinking into the orange sky of the rising sun, and the red desert sands of the east, and was suddenly off across the lawn, down a side alley, vanished into the shadows of the city.

He reached the apartment to a rather shocked Phantom looking at the TV from the couch. "You're in a lotta trouble this time, man."

Bluehawk stopped in his tracks as Phantom eyes the blood all over him concernedly.

"They think you did it."

"Wha-?"

"Look."

Bluehawk looked. Bluehawk saw…Bluehawk's jaw dropped. The amateur recording played again. It showed Bluehawk in mid-drop from the roof, Urthdigger and NKLS watching, and then Urthdigger and NK both jumped off too. There had been no-one around. Yet there it was, footage, evidently from the ground behind the building, of them escaping…no way, Hawk dropped way too close to where the footage was filmed from to not have seen the person doing it. "I'm getting this blood off, then I'm leaving." In mere minutes he was set in dark blue jacket and red trousers, heading for the door…then suddenly there was a knock. "Who is it?" Phantom asked tentatively.

"Solorfrog of the SoaH City Police!"

__

Shit. 

"I-I'm naked! Hang on a sec!" Phantom called, stealing a worried glance at Hawk, who was no longer there…Hawk looked down at the ground, a few floors down, sick with memory of his climb down Cal Tower, and with virtually nothing to cling to except some gaps in the mortar. There was a thunk as the Hotel window closed, and Phantom's muffled voice came through as well as Solorfrog's. Then Hawk remembered his emerald and gripped it tightly, letting go of the wall and dropping to the ground. Virutally no-one on the street, so no-one seemed to recognize him. That was a definite plus…but now to go where no-one could possibly expect for some sleep? He couldn't rely on the emerald all night…then it hit him, right on the forehead.


	5. The Meetings

****

Chapter 5:The Meetings

Rotita opened the door quickly in the hopes that it would be someone else than it really was. "Bluehawk? What're you doing here so early?"

"Sorry to drop in like this. I take it you haven't seen the news." The purple hedgehog girl shook her head. "I need a place to sleep for the rest of the day. Somewhere I won't be expected, and I figured here would be as good as any." Hawk saw the look on Rotita's face. "The couch will do, and it's only for the one day, I need to move around heaps." He added quickly. Rotita nodded slowly. Kao probably wasn't going to like this.

"Need anything to drink?"

"No thanks, I'm fine." Hawk muttered as he took his shoes off and lay down on the couch. "Don't…fuss over me, okay? Just wake me up if I don't before six." Rotita nodded, and Hawk went straight off to sleep.

Phantom nodded as Solorfrog left the room, closing the door with a slam. Finally. Even though it was only a few minutes since he knocked on the door, it seemed like it had been hours. The town had a few problems now, it seemed. One, whatever it was the attacked city hall would probably come back in greater numbers. Two, the mutants that Hawk had been after…what had become of them? The answers would have to wait for a bit…

Stryke sat in the bushes, still watching for any recovery cruisers. He only had one emerald…where the hell had the other one gone? Ah yes, attracted to his foul brother's energy. That must have been it, he had been told of the relationships between the orbs and the emeralds, they were both created for similar purposes…but only the children of darkness seemed to know this. His younger brother probably didn't even remember again gripping the emerald, probably completely forgot he had lost it, and then recovered it completely by accident…Bloodhawk, also known as Stryke, suddenly turned around to the noise of rustling bushes and an unfamiliar drone…the thud of artificial feet…the slight sense of electricity nearby…a clunk of metal hitting metal. That was no ordinary metal…NO!

"Urthdigger, have you heard from Hawk?"

"Not since this morning. NK! Don't worry! He hasn't been caught…yet. He's probably staying where he won't be expected. Like you should."

"What are _you_ doing?"

"Haha…they'll never find me. Not here, no way."

"Suit yourself. Don't forget the meeting…and there's someone else who I'm going to try to get in on this…"

"Make that two people. I'm going to make sure Hawk's friend knows…"

"What!?"

"Don't fret. He probably already knows. Just making sure."

Phantom picked up the phone, still a little on edge about the things that had happened earlier in the day…he had probably almost teleported just now, too… "Be at the Reload Centre, 6:30 tonight." The person on the other end hung up immediately. Not a bad show…but not good either…_Who cares?_ Phantom thought to himself. _If it's anyone hostile, I can take 'em out easily…_

Bluehawk rolled over and hit the floor as he heard his name called. He groped around, trying to find his sunglasses, everything was suddenly so bright…a red blur combined with the roof colour…

"Ahem." The voice said.

"Just lemme find my glasses." Hawk mumbled.

"A-HEM." The voice coughed again…Hawk saw the dark green shape dangling from a gloved hand. 

"Ah, thank you. What's the time?" Hawk said, putting his glasses on in proper place.

"Five. What's going on?"

"With what?"

"I've seen the news." The red fox stated.

"And let me guess, you think I'm guilty?" Bluehawk said as he began to get up and walk slowly toward the kitchen, looking for the toaster, a powerpoint, anything that some form of cutlery would fit into…he was about to be forced to fight. That much was certain. No, he still had the emerald in his hand. _Head for the door._

Minutes later, Hawk was standing in the alleyway, in hiding from the teeming masses of people along the streets. Kao had called the police and virtually _let_ Hawk get away. Maybe it was deliberate, a double-siding, maybe a loyalty tussle of some kind. But this was as good a place as any to hide for now, the police probably expected him to be a long way from here by now, so they wouldn't even be searching, they'd be waiting for the next report on his location…which would be between here and the Reload Centre, between six and six-thirty. Perfect view of the central clock tower, five thrity. Whoa, time had flown…Hawk looked up, around the buildings and at the street through the shadows, headed for the brick wall in front of him, turned around to look at the opposite one, then boosted forward and up.

"What's that yellow light?"

NKLS got up to peer around the corner of the brick wall to see this 'yellow light'. Sure enough, among the building lights, another, slightly dimmer light of a differing colour moved among them, hitting the tallest building, it faded, then suddenly flashed back, falling toward another building…

"Judging by its location and manner, that's Bluehawk. But the behaviour…"

Bandit Dorian gave NK a puzzled glance.

"He picked the right spot." NK continued. "I don't think anyone at all who would go talking to police, save Bluehawk himself, would come around here on a regular basis." 

The raccoon girl nodded. "I can see why." Just as she spoke a hooded stranger passed by, glanced at the duo and continued walking, muttering under its breath. NKLS examined its PSI field…"Urthdigger."

"What?" 

"It's Urthdigger in a hooded-hedgehog disguise. Very nice touch."

NKLS walked casually over to where the hooded figure was leaning against the wall. It pulled back its hood and sure enough was a brown hedgehog that looked up to the Inchadeena. "It's time anyway, might as well show yourself." The hedgehog nodded, and NK looked away to inspect the surroundings, by the time he looked back and Bandit strolled onto the scene, he was again a mole. 

"Where're Hawk and Phantom?"

"Looks like Hawk's on his way. Phantom…Hawk's mentioned him before."

"If he responds to my call, he'll join us for sure."

"Don't you think Hawk would have told him?"

"He may not have had time. And he may have thought that this was going to be like the Goop Zombies escapade. Perhaps Zyborg should have been-"

"Never mind that, he was only in to take down his own enemy. And Bluehawk's nearly-"

Suddenly there was a screech as Bluehawk hit the bitumen hard with his shoes in an effort to stop, slid a hundred metres down the road and stopped right in front of the Reload Centre, just as the clock above the building ticked '6:30'. There was a loud humming noise as the glider touched down behind him.

"We're all here." NKLS nodded. "Let's go somewhere more private. The TDK warehouse."

Hawk blinked, still approaching the group on the corner of the dimly-lit concrete-pillar shop.

"You gotta be kiddin' me! I ain't goin' down for break and enter!"

"We're already 'criminals' anyway, might as well have a little fun." Urthdigger chuckled. Phantom and Bandit both said nothing.

Stryke struck the cold, ruthless steel of the derelict almost limply and with a sickening thud. The emerald still in his hand powered him enough for protection…the merciless teal droid stared him down with glowing red ellipses, the whites of its eyes black and one of its arms, pointed at Stryke, was a permanent fist with spikes on the knuckles. Stryke dropped to the ground and crouched, the Flash Blades not coming out this time. Instead he rose to his feet, arms outstretched to the air as the robotic eyes stared, lowering the knuckle arm and going into a relaxed pose, meant to throw his opponent off guard. Then the teal steel was blasted back by six tiny pulses…they had a lot of drive in them, and Stryke unleashed more of them before disappearing to the roof of the cruiser. "Come, we shall create a spectacle to lure my allies to us!"

"…Bring it on." The mechanical voice whirred.

They didn't need a key, NKLS easily disengaged the lock with his mind and the five strolled in, taking care not to sit on anything that might attract attention to its use. Everyone naturally seated themselves at the dining table. "What we need to do." Bluehawk started. "Is find out what the hell these 'shadow men' are. They're deadly, they're robotic, but they seem to have a lot of one-minded personality…"

"Yeah…those pikes were-" Phantom put his hand over his own mouth.

"Don't tell me that was all on TV." Urthdigger groaned.

"Luckily, the mayor was on vacation in Station Square at the time." Phantom said, mimicking the newsreader's voice and almost-cockney accent.

"I've just realized something…" Bluehawk started again. "I never noticed it before…when we were captured by them…Myself, Phantom and Sama…we woke up in chimera prison cells. Either they're allied in some way, or the chimeras…"

"Created them?" Phantom finished his sentence, Urthdigger, NKLS and Bandit paying close attention. "It wouldn't surprise me. The only question is why."

"But…you're one of them, right?" Urthdigger asked. Bandit's eyes widened slightly. _He's a chimera…?_

Phantom nodded. "Even I don't know too much though. I'm familiar with the basics and their technology and all, but I don't actually remember anything pre-Terras saturation."

"Terras saturation!?" NKLS asked, just before anyone else could do the same.

"The earth elemental, the Terras Ball. The chimeras got their hands on it and tested it on selected subjects…I was one of six. Anyway, like I said. I only know their basic history and technology, not how or why they would create something so…evil."

"Basic history, you say?" Bluehawk said slowly. "Like what that you haven't told me already?"

Phantom looked down, almost guiltily. "Like I said. I don't know all about it. But we were once a peaceful tribe on a peaceful planet, then we were banished along with our technology and the power source we were banished for. That's about all I know, they roam the galaxy in search of a decent home, and it seems this planet is the safest place they've found."

"And they'll do anything for their own survival." Bandit groaned, fiddling with a bottle of salt.

"It seems so." Bluehawk muttered. "They seem to be trying to go it slow though."

"Of course they would, with you guys around." Urthdigger chuckled.

"The shadow-men!" Hawk cried.

"Yeah, them. But there's nothing we can really do, is there? You can't 'look for them', as far as you've told us they always come to you!"

"The derelict Cruiser. We might be able to find evidence of further construction…the new model."

Bandit, NKLS and Urthdigger exchanged glances. Phantom simply looked at Hawk with a grin. "Even I didn't think of that…if you're right…"

Suddenly there was the noise of someone yelling to someone further away from the door. Everyone froze. Bluehawk went for the back door and Phantom teleported. 

A white hedgehog stepped into the room, seeing all the signs of the building's use. If only he had tested to see that the building was locked before he entered, instead of spending a minute unlocking it, realizing he'd just locked it, and unlocking it again. There was a salt bottle on the ground. He and the gang didn't use salt bottles like that. "Someone's been here. It might have been…_them._"

The Squall buzzed slowly over the infinite masses of trees, as he realized that this was almost a good thing that he was using it to get out there. After all, if the authorities found that he had left his plane far from the city, they would think he had left. The sky positively glowed blue except for the occasional whiff of cloud, but that wasn't worth noting, he had to be on constant alert. Nowhere was safe until he had cleared his name. Then the cruiser loomed out of the shadows of the trees on the border of the rock sheet, the huge teal mass of metal ellipses…with three massive holes in the roof. They would make for easy entry…Hawk dove down toward the flat rock, which seemed to be sizzling in the sunlight already, it was virtually a desert. The plane bounced once, then came down a second time fairly smoothly. Hawk jumped out, holding the side of the seat for balance until hitting ground zero. One of the holes was smoking, and from here…the edges almost looked charred. Bluehawk used his emerald to jump up high enough to reach a platform and scrabble up to the only apparent safe hole, the one torn outwards.

The cruiser inside was cold, which was Hawk's first thought. Of course, all of the communications and lights had been knocked out, so the Lazuli Blade did quite nicely. Now to find the info centre…then Hawk whacked himself hard on the forehead. He had used EMP…wouldn't the chimeras have kept their records electronically? They wouldn't have their research on paper, no way! 

"Hawk, you there?" Urthdigger's voice, coming from the watch…hey, why was the watch working, anyway?

"Yeah, and I got a question. Why, if my watch was deactivated my EMP, does it work now?" Buehawk waited a few moments before the reply came.

"That's…weird, I would think EMP would wipe it out permanently."

__

So it wasn't normal EMP…and those Shadow-men he deactivated with it… "I knocked out two shadow-men with this EMP stuff…they probably came out of that unscathed!" _But that would mean…the research is unscathed too!_ "You timed that call well, Urthdigger. See if you can contact everyone else and tell them we're meeting at my blown-up apartment Okay?"

"Got it. Over and out."

"Out with the formalities." Hawk muttered, walking cautiously along the corridor, wondering how the heck he would recognize the research lab door. It was creepy with absolutely no noise except for the occasional electrical buzz and his footsteps on the thin steel floor, and there were signs only of guard quarters. It was obviously the wrong floor…a deactivated teleporter seemed to be in the place where an earthling would use an elevator, and there were nearby stairs going both up and down in a spiral which Hawk tried to use too fast, almost falling over multiple times from dizzyness afterwards…but there was a different air about this floor…he had skipped two, no matter. This almost seemed to be what he was looking for. The strange smells definitely merited some kind of chemical research. One room that Hawk walked past had lights on, as if it had a backup for everything electrical. There were huge neon-tubes attached to the back wall which seemed to be viewable from the room on the other side of the room, but that was definitely where the light was coming from…it was where Sierra and Jason had been taken. That much was certain. 

"NOOO! DON'T DO THIS! I WILL BE SOUGHT AND AVENGED!" Stryke struggled frantically against the mechanoid forcing him into the chute, down into the liquid-filled neon green tube. But it was hopeless…his fingered hand had an iron grip.

"Avenged?" The mechanical voice cackled. "P'ah. You will not be harmed, Mykol…only out of action for a few days…or months. Once my own creation has _your_ memories, collecting your other half will be a piece of cake. You want him destroyed, do you not?"

"Yeah, I do. But this ain't the way I want to go about it!"

"Really?" Droned the mechanical voice of the second mechanoid, which stood on an upturned table. The metal hedgehog gave a last shove of Bluehawk's brother into the tube, and he hit the slimy liquid with a loud splash, sinking quickly down to the next floor down. The abandoned chameleon ruins were perfect for his creation. The devices still worked…the memory tuner buzzed into action as tubes attached to Stryke, copying all of his knowledge onto a super-computer. 

"Once the process is complete, my friend, and I must say it is very fast now thanks to me, we can upload it all into your memory banks to help you seek out the pure half…once you are complete, nothing will stop us again!"

The foxbot clicked and whirred.

The computer buzzed to life the moment Hawk entered the room, startling him. The characters were almost earthly…yes, that definitely said 'metal', that word there…ocean…

__

It is the 64547629th hour of the 391533rd Chimeran year. A strange substance has been discovered, its radiation sensed from the sky and its presence lurking deep in the ocean, on the opposite side of the planet to where the traitor and HT-4 escaped us. It is metallic, but it pulsates and writhes as if it were alive. We managed to harvest some while fighting off the metallic sea creatures in the area which proved deadly…our shots passed right passed them as the metal bent them evasively. If that is what this metal does, then if it could be used, we could upgrade the shadow-men again, very quickly…and they would be unstoppable.

Bluehawk squinted at the characters, his expression turning to horror…a living metal? For a minute he had almost thought they referred to the mechanoid he had fought with Mini, KK, Rack and Grey. Come to think of it, he hadn't visited those two chameleons in a while. But now wasn't the time to think of-suddenly there was a loud thoom, a vibration through the floors. Hawk gripped the emerald, drew the Lazuli Blade. Something, someone was alive in here still. Hawk turned, hoping against hope that this would not be a creature of the metallic substance…a voice tore through the air…it was muffled…but…_Sama!_ His friend was in here somewhere…in the corridors…unless it was that clone, if so then he was spoiling for a good fight…Hawk raced through the corridors, but no voices could be heard…nor was there another vibration.

The shop clerk yelled out in alarm as he realized that that heavily-clothed guy was making off with some clothes and hadn't paid yet…he ran outside and looked along the street only to find his thief had already gotten away on some kind of strange motorbike. Urthdigger rode away grinning, using the congested traffic to get some air time on his hoverbike. He was already a 'criminal' after all, so why not have a little fun? The life of a crim wasn't so bad, he could live it up however he wanted now and not really get in any worse trouble. The bike suddenly went straight for the boot of a halting car, leapt straight upward, and Urthdigger turned it left for the landing at which he'd go in a new direction. Phantom looked on from above a rooftop on his glider. _Not a smart move, Urth._ He thought to himself. _You'll just make it harder to clear our names…_Phantom glanced back at the whirring helicopters and made haste outta there. They would question him about Hawk…and know when he was lying. 

The city streets darkened quickly, twilight didn't last long at all. The helicopter patrols still buzzed around, searching for the criminals who killed everyone who happened to be in City Hall at the time. Bluehawk darted between buildings and shadows, avoiding being seen as much as possible. The meeting at his ruined apartment was soon, so he made utmost speed to its location. The outer wall was being held up by long wooden planks and half of the floor was done, so it seemed the meeting would be in Phantom's place…Hawk saw from a distance and made sure to raise his altitude with a different building, then leapt between buildings using his emerald. "You're late." eNKay chuckled. Bandit Dorian sat on the somewhat charred floor, rocking back and forth with boredom.

"What about Urthdigger and Phantom? Heard from them yet?"

"No."

Bluehawk got out his communicator (which looked more like a child's walkie-talkie) and held down the talk button. "Phantom! Where the heck are you? Over!"

They all waited a few seconds for the response. Then suddenly there was a loud explosion a few streets away, its location pinpointed by green flashes of light…

Phantom half-cowered against the wall, hoping desperately that he wouldn't have to resort to anything violent.

"Surely you're in contact with that mass-murderer! He is your…_friend…_after all."

Phantom shook his head. "I've been betrayed many times in my short lifetime, officer." The police cars behind the officer flashed the entire street with red and blue. "I don't associate with traitors…I only hunt them down and-"

"Phantom! Where the heck are you? Over!"

__

Oh shit… The grinning officer pushed Phantom harder against the glass wall…there was only one thing left to do. Suddenly the 'black hedgehog' was gone…there was a muffled scream as one of the police cars suddenly launched into the air, Phantom having tossed it upward from underneath, and it flipped over, as if it were dangling from an invisible rope, and dropped upside-down on the other car. Phantom leapt onto his glider and was off in an instant, leaving behind a green shockwave which threw everything away from its core. "You idiot, Hawk! Now I'm guilty of association and assaulting police!"

Urthdigger burst in the door, still carrying the bags of materialism he had stolen during the day.

"Been shopping, Urthdigger?" Hawk joked lamely.

Phantom's glider hummed outside the wall of planks. Urthdigger nodded with a grin. NK frowned. 

"Not the smartest of moves, Urth. You're making it worse for all of us."

Urthdigger shrugged. "We're already criminals, why not have some fun?"

"Because if we kept quiet, they may begin to realize that we _may_ be innocent." Phantom scowled.

Bandit raised an eyebrow at Urth. There was a crunch from above. A crash of glass. Everyone looked up at the sound of a piercing scream…

"Let's get up th-" 

Suddenly the entire roof of Bluehawk's ruined apartment caved in…six tiny green lights attached to mere silhouettes dropped in amongst the glass and wood shards…Bluehawk lashed out with a vicious kick as one hit the floor, Bandit allowed her staff become a glaive spear and pierced right through another shadow's armor plating. 

"What's going on in there!?" Phantom called.

NK and Urthdigger sent a foot and a claw right through another mechanoid's stomach as Bluehawk took a volley of punches and kicks to the head…there was an explosion from the wooden wall as it tore apart to show Phantom the scene…he was instantly greeted by a flying shadow-man, flung out the window by Urthdigger, the glider flipped over as Phantom grabbed it desperately, the shadow-man sat on top of the underside, trying to keep balance as Phantom attempted to flip it again, another tripped over backwards as it stepped over the edge, being pierced multiple times by Bandit's bladed spear. It hit the ground with a metal-sheathing sound as Urthdigger ripped the last one off of Bluehawk whom it held to the ground, throwing it straight into NK who blasted it at the hole with white light…before collapsing to the ground shivering, his mind interrupted…It fell on top of the other fallen one as Phantom swung himself upward and upon his own attacker, gave it a swift punch to the front of the neck before it could attack, and let it drop to the road where it was instantly hit by a car which screeched to a halt. Bluehawk lifted himself up, puffing, as a dark figure loomed from the hole in the roof. "You guys okay?" The dark hedgehog asked, showing his skewer of two shadow-men. "What are these things you just flung from the window?"

Everyone looked up, still enraged and puffing from their unexpected fight. "Who the hell are you?" Bluehawk asked…this hedgehog reminded him of something. His voice and attitude. 

"Forte Kenshin is my name, that it is." He said, dropping upon the destroyed apartments. Phantom watched from just outside as a buzzing helicopter became louder than ever. "I saw your battle from down there, that I did, and you're wondering how I got up here so fast, that you are."

Hawk's eyebrow twitched. Phantom seemed deep in thought, too. 

Bluehawk looked up suddenly. Of course. "Shadow Gunner."…who killed multiple innocents a few weeks ago, while the Stormeye trio was away looking for the orbs. "Yeah! You're Shadow Gunner, aren't you!? Nice disguise." 

"It was an accident, that it was. And I want to help you kill these fiends who mercilessly killed many people in city hall, that I do."

Everyone looked around, wondering whether to trust this individual. Helicopter so loud it was difficult to hear oneself think. Then suddenly something dropped in through the holes in the roof. A tiny canister. Everyone stared at it in horror before even thinking to react…but the gas it expelled overcame all of them quickly, as the most powerful one of them was curled up in the corner, pale and shivering. Phantom watched in horror as they collapsed, one by one. Bandit Dorian first, followed closely by Bluehawk and Urthdigger, then Shadow Gunner last of all. Men in gas masks dropped in and carried them all off on stretchers, being sure to attach them with steel chains…Phantom flew off without being seen.


	6. Outta Here Or Bust

****

Chapter 6:Outta Here Or Bust

The groans echoing off the concrete walls were what woke Bluehawk up. It was obviously day, as light seeped in through the window…his head was heavy and difficult to balance, which was especially problematic because he felt seriously dizzy…it felt like if he let it droop it would snap his neck."Damnit…" Hawk heard Urth's voice mutter. "TV's giving me EMI…"

Hawk nodded sleepily. EMI prevented Urthdigger from using his magic. Bluehawk needed electricity or a chaos emerald to use his own powers, and there was nothing electrical in the room. A prison guard walked past slowly, inspecting the prisoners. Hawk heard 'Forte' let out a moan, about a cell away, meaning he was on the other side of Urthdigger. Then Bluehawk spotted the dark object in the guard's hand. A taser. Did they know…? Maybe, maybe not…either they had specially picked a TV for Urth's room for the EMI or they were deliberately _not_ putting one in Hawk's room lest he try to electrocute himself. "Well, you guys sure did your homework." Urth murmured at the guard. A whistle blew down through the corridors. Breakfast, then exercise time.

"Damnit, there's a TV and a radio in here as well…" Urthdigger complained. 

Bluehawk was more worried about the inedible fatty slop they had been given called 'soup'. More like 'fat sludge'. Was this what people in prison were given every day? He suddenly thought about people who could have been framed in the past…forced to put up with _this…_before long they would be feeling constantly sick. "How long are we in for, anyway?" Hawk asked Urth.

"We're still yet to receive sentence." Urthdigger sighed. "We've got individual trials…although I don't think they'll risk allowing NK to wake up."

"Doesn't this scene seem familiar to you?" Hawk said brightly. "Only a few days ago we could have been executed by the chimeras."

"Well, the trial's tomorrow. Don't bother trying to escape, man. We're on a small island, there's nowhere to run."

During exercise hour Hawk began to see what Urth meant from on top of the building, the entire land mass was covered in the prison building, and the shore of SoaH city was a fair distance away. The thugs around them appeared to be in utter despair, despite the cool breeze and the salty air. Perhaps most of them were never leaving…but half of them just didn't have that criminal look about them. Almost as if they did absolutely nothing, were framed for something that _nobody_ did, and there was no hope of the court ever finding out the truth. _I've been playing too many video games._ Hawk thought to himself sadly, glancing at the dark brown kitsune on his right as they all did star-jumps.

"You okay, man?" Shadowdart the mole asked. "What's it like in the slammer, knowing that you're virtually innocent?"

Urthdigger chuckled. "It's shit, but I guess at least I've got friends in here." Shadowdart looked to his own right, seeing Bluehawk's cell. 

"I'll see you at the trial tomorrow." He got up and walked toward the stairs, escorted by a guard with a rather dangerous looking gun. He noticed a green hedgehog walking the other way along the corridors, followed by a purple kitsune and their own escort. _Must be to stop us breaking our friends free…_he thought to himself. KawaiiKitsune gave Mini a supportive peck on the cheek as they walked on in silence. Mini looked at KK gratefully and she smiled back. The stairs were dark, but the three cells were well-lit. Bluehawk looked up from his seat on his bed, from his brooding and contemplation. He suddenly smiled, Mini realizing just how different he looked without his sunglasses. "I was wondering if you even knew I was in here." Hawk joked.

"When's the trial?" Mini asked, getting straight to the point, not even knowing if his friend was now a foe.

"Tomorrow, I think…I'm trying to enjoy what could possibly be my last days of life."

"You don't look too happy to me." Mini said slowly. _My friend could be executed._

"Wait a sec…" KK said abruptly. "Last days of-!?"

Bluehawk nodded. "I could be executed for something I didn't even do. And it's boring as hell in here."

Minimaniac almost laughed. "What about Phantom? You seen him?"

"No idea where he's got to." Hawk said slowly, questioningly. "I don't think they got him. But Bandit Dorian's the only one of us who'll _definitely_ not be executed, since they haven't got enough evidence that she was 'involved in the killings'. Don't worry about me too much, it's most likely I'll just be in here for…a long time."

Minimaniac nodded.

A whistle rang throughout the corridors. "Visiting hour's almost over."

Minimaniac nodded. "We'd better go."

Bluehawk walked into the courtroom slowly. It was rounded, unlike most places. At the other end of the room were three balconies, all on different levels with the highest one in the centre and the others on either side, the jury sitting at the sides. They couldn't risk putting NKLS on trial, Urthdigger had extra charges against himself, and Bandit and 'Forte', as he called himself, were only guilty by association, so everyone was being trialled separately. Bluehawk shivered violently. At least if he was put on death row or the guillotine he wouldn't be put there on his own. If he was going down, surely anyone with worse crimes would be too. The jury, and the people on the balcony above the door, all stood, the rather well-hidden judge didn't stir.

"The defendant is charged with mass murder and organized terrorism. How do you plead, Bluehawk Dustorm?"

__

You gotta be shittin' me. Hawk thought to himself. "Not guilty." He said defiantly. _Dumbass._

"The defendant pleads _not guilty._" The elderly voice from above said loudly. 

"And yet." Said a voice just behind the judge. "This video tape clearly shows _you,_ _Bluehawk Dustorm,_ making an escape from City Hall just as another squadron of police arrived." Another hidden figure stepped out and flicked a switch on a remote control, a TV came down playing the footage of Bluehawk leaping off the building, chaos emerald in hand…again, Bluehawk puzzled himself with how he had been observed…then he noticed something. NKLS and Urthdigger in that shot were the wrong way around…Urth had been on his right, and NK on his left…so unless this picture had been turned around…no, the chaos emerald was in his left hand on that picture, as usual…

"That footage is staged!" Bluehawk suddenly yelled, right when NKLS was leaping from the building. _They'd got most of the details right, though…_ "Even if that is the _real_ City Hall, when I leapt from that building the others were the other way around!" Everyone gasped. 

"So you're owning up!" The second hooded figure cried.

"'Course not. Just because I was there doesn't mean I'm guilty." _Another dumbass. Probably really good at persuading people, too._

"Then what have you to say for yourself!? Come on, if yo9u're so innocent, then defend yourself!"

"The three of us, myself, NKLS and Urthdigger were there to find out who attacked City Hall, why, and if we could take them out and/or capture them. But of course with my EMP abilities it's only a temporary deactivation, so the robotic culprits got away before the police found them, obviously!"

"See how many holes his tale has!? We cannot even vouch for Urthdigger's character, he was identified stealing clothes and food mere days ago. Robots are not capable of such creativity as to wrap one's intestines around their neck, to hang them from the roof and cut them into exact little cubes of mush! You and your terrorist group were caught associating with a possible _known criminal,_ and-"

"They are no ordinary mechanoids." Bluehawk stated coldly, yet still defiant. "They are created by Chimeras-!"

"P'ah! Beasts have no concept of technology!"

Bluehawk shook his head. "You never heard of the Chimeras? I'm sure you've all seen that derelict spacecraft in the rock sheet north of the forest. It dropped mere days ago. You'll also notice extremely advanced technology, if you bother to explore it."

"So how did you survive, where the police and everyone else could not? You're working for them, aren't you! These…aliens, Chimeras as you call them."

"No."

"Prove it."

Bluehawk saw the glint of a sly smile from under the blue hood. Hawk's green irises covered up his black pupils much more than before as he tried to get a direct focus. _Could it be!?_ "How do you expect me to prove it? What, by _asking_ them? P'ah!" 

The two hooded figures looked at each other, rubbing their chins. "Keep him in here until the end of the next trial, we may find contradictions in the story from his friend, Urthdigger. Then we will pass sentence."

It was better than an execution sentence, but they hadn't even tried to vouch for his character yet. Probably couldn't get any witnesses in…or didn't _want_ to. Bluehawk looked up at the balcony above the door and saw the mole who had visited Urthdigger wink down at him. There was a seat just under the balcony which Hawk was put into with a machine gun pointing at him from each side. Urthdigger was escorted in through the door, and sat down right where Bluehawk had been. 

"The defendant is charged with organized mass murder, terrorism and robbery. Urthdigger Quickclaw, how do you plead to these charges?"

"Innocent to the first two."

The hooded figure tilted his head, probably raised an eyebrow. "Innocent of organized mass murder and terrorism, but guilty of robbery?"

"Not robbery." He replied calmly. "Theft. I didn't threaten or hurt anyone, I just took the goods."

__

You fool, Urth…Bluehawk put his head in his hands.

The second hooded figure seemed to nod. "As for the mass murder…you have probably seen _this tape?_"

The TV came down again, and Bluehawk realized that it had gone up in the first place…the video played again.

"Where the hell did you get that from!?" Urthdigger cried. "There was no-one there…now that I think about it, there was no EMI when we vamoosed outta there! A camera would project EMI!"

__

Another point to us. Someone's setting us up, even if we were there…

"This isn't a misunderstanding at all! We were set up!" Urthdigger yelled, standing up and realizing that the TV was projecting just enough EMI to prevent his escape. "Who the hell are you, anyway? Show yourself!"

"It is for my own protection." The hooded figure stated. "If you saw my face, then any friends of yours could find out who I am and attempt to harm me if I sentence you!"

__

Good point…but that still doesn't explain…

"The jury all know who I am, never you mind." It was then that Bluehawk realized the heavy human presence in the jury. 

"Okay, even if you _are_ 'legit', we were set up. There was no-one there to tape that, I doubt anyone would even have dared get close." Urthdigger said. "The beam. Is any of us capable of that? Even NK can't do things like that, what do you say to this?"

The judge looked to both sides of the jury. "Bring forth the first defendant-" (it was then that Urth realized Hawk was in the room) "-and make your decision…guilty or not guilty?"

The members of the jury all murmured amongst themselves. 

"If guilty, stand to their left. If not guilty, stand to their right."

All of the jury members filed down a rather well-hidden staircase at the back of each balcony, then out of a door at the corner of the wall. All of the jury members voted with action, not words, and Bluehawk watched in horror at the amount of people on the left…he looked to the right…far, far less.

"Bluehawk Dustorm, Urthdigger Quickclaw, on charges of terrorism and treason-"

__

Treason!? That wasn't mentioned before!!

"I sentence you to five days solitary confinement, pending execution at the end of the five days."

Hawk's throat seized with terror. Execution. Five days. "Shit?" Urthdigger smiled weakly.

They were thrown into the darkest, most hopeless cells there were, not even allowed to enjoy those last five days of life. The only light that shone through was from a murder-hole in the back wall that served as a window, in the dungeon's highest tower. But no hope shone through those windows for the five days of anticipation. Bluehawk didn't even move, trying to conserve his strength for that faint glimmer of escape that didn't even exist. The bed was cold, and the stuff they called 'soup' was basically just water. Eventually the rusty steel gate ground itself open and two human guards in body armor strode in. "You're coming now." The larger one scowled. The other one muttered something about terrorism. Bluehawk stood up, almost politely, and marched with them, up the stairs to the top of the tower, which had a brilliant view of the exercise area and a whole lot of ocean, and the wind bit at the human faces. Bluehawk was, for a few seconds, grateful for his fur and natural circulation. Seconds later he was being tied to a pole at the edge of the platform, a wooden pole which was already bloodstained. Urthdigger was brought up behind him and tied next to him, the guards keeping a buzzing radio right near his ear for the EMI…and they had brought Bluehawk, with his EMP, up first. The wind blew at his fur, blowing from right behind him and his whisker hair into his cheeks. His hands were tied, preventing him outstretching them at the radio…four identical human males with some kind of machine gun all pointed them at the two posts, each selecting their own target. Hawk realized that the sky was red. Dusk. Eyes squinted, he wasn't used to being in the open without sunglasses. Urthdigger was looking down. _Be defiant to the last, damnit! At least make us all look cool!_

"Select a target!" The fifth man cried to the wind. They had already done that. "Cock your rifles!"

Bluehawk half-phased out. This was it. He was going to die, everything was going to end. Everything had come to this…what was that whirring noise?

"Aim well…"

__

Get it over with. Bluehawk thought to himself. _Just get it over with so we feel no more pain._

"Johnson! Aim your rifle at the targets!"

"But sir-"

"DO IT!"

__

Stop it with the build up already! If I'm going to be executed, I'd hate for it to be screwed up…

"Ready, aim, and-"

Suddenly there was a blast of heat and force…Bluehawk pushed himself off of the pole as much as he could to prevent head injury, but the explosion was too much…_Beats bullets…_suddenly a shard of the rocky roof caught him on the chest and he yelled out in pain, the prison clothes were too thin for the heat…then it was all over, Hawk and Urth were faced with a death row on top of the tower, tied to wooden poles, and the way down into the tower completely destroyed. Suddenly something dropped down in front of Hawk's feet…yellow, shiny…

"Is that-!?"

"Holy dipshit…" Hawk said to himself, bewildered. "It's my emerald! How the hell!?"

"Fate has played a significant part in that, I think." Urth muttered, noting that the floor was stone…perfect. In an instant he was three metres away and looking a lot more tired, but also more cheerful, and he started undoing Hawk's ropes. Hawk immediately grabbed at the emerald as soon as Urth was finished recharging from it.

"Let's go."

"I heard they were keeping our stuff in a sealed room, but that won't be so hard." Urthdigger said, puffing as they both ran down the spiral stairs, then finally into a corridor of the main, building, past a few guards yelling 'hey!' and down three more flights of stairs before any alarms went off. "It'll be in a top security area." Bluehawk nodded, turning around to halt the pursuing guards with a volley of tiny chaos blasts. 

"Found it already?" Hawk said, surprised.

"No…but it might help. Back me up while I check this out!"

Hawk ran to the door as Urthdigger entered, firing more tiny chaotic blasts from the palm of Hawk's hand that penetrated like bullets. 

"Here we go!" Urthdigger ran out of the room carrying a fairly small bag. "My bag of holding. Probably has all of our stuff in it."

Bluehawk stepped back as one of his Rainbow Volley shots created an explosion on the corridor, engulfing the floor in flames and blocking anyone from getting through with a burst of orange light.

"Let's free the others!" Hawk cried, Urthdigger was already down the next staircase. "…Play it that way, eh?" Hawk grinned, and in an instant was three steps ahead of Urthdigger along the next corridor, a corridor ahead. Urthdigger shouted something which Bluehawk didn't hear, what he did hear was the tone of enjoyment.

Suddenly the patterns of steel bars flashed across Hawk's vision and he skidded to a halt to check who was in them. No-one he knew. One was asleep, the dark brown fox he had seen at exercise hour looked up curiously. There was another cell the occupants of which he couldn't see. Suddenly there was a buzz of electricity and the bars suddenly shot straight upward…releasing the cells' occupants. The dark brown fox made a lunge at Bluehawk, who darted out of the way as the fox turned and dashed up the corridor. Urthdigger shouted, echoing through the corridor. Hawk ducked out of the way as he rushed past, slamming straight into Bandit Dorian and Shadow Gunner. A black hedgehog ran past Hawk from the cell he hadn't seen the contents of. "Where's eN-Kay?" Hawk cried down to the others. 

"He ran off to find something…"

NKLS dodged into the room and quickly slammed the door before even checking his surroundings, but the blue lights told him he was probably in the right place. He took a second glance while checking the psi-fields for anyone outside the door, but there wasn't. The others were a few floors down. And he had found her at last, in a stasis tank in the SoaH City prison…Saturn Inchadeena…of all the places…a few button pushes and a crashing of glass later, she was in his arms, waking up from a long sleep…

Phantom reared up in awe, in confusion. The Chimera Cruiser was heading straight for the SoaH City prison. Its flashing white light on the front and underside forced him to squint from his high-up position on the glider, but that wasn't too problematic. The problem was…what the heck were they doing over at the prison? Then suddenly the bomb doors at the bottom opened…Phantom saw. Phantom gaped. Huge glowing green spheres dropped out of the chimera bomb-droppers. _No way. No damn way._ Phantom thought to himself. _The Terras Ball still exists!?_ They exploded upon impact with the distant towers, from the look of things they were completely shattered…they were working fast…were they destroying the island!?

Bluehawk stopped his ascent of the stairs the second he heard the first _thoom._ Before any of the people behind him could react, the stone roof above them was completely obliterated and all of its rocky shards sent soaring with a green glow…then suddenly the floor cracked, all of it rising as Hawk reacted swiftly, leaping toward the others and pushing them down the stairs where it was slightly safer. "Dude, that was fast!" Cried Urthdigger. Nobody had time to reply before the entire building was carved up around them, into falling rubble and people running on air. Bluehawk looked up, seeing the flashing lights of the chimera cruiser. Urthdigger recognized its design instantly, Bandit and Forte weren't quite so sure as they hit the completely destroyed ruins of the island. Huge chunks of dirt and rock stuck out of a large lump of sand like shards of broken glass. Hawk brushed some sand off of his behind as he got up, standing back slightly upon seeing a green beam scanning the rubble…Forte balanced himself on a floating piece of metal ripped off of some kind of engineering project. Urth pressed a few buttons on his watch as the beam finally halted its towing in of ex-SoaH city prisoners and the cruiser began turning toward the mainland. Bluehawk suddenly found himself staring straight at a rope ladder dangling from another airship of some kind and instinctively climbed upwards, hearing the voices of NKLS and the mole he had seen visiting Urthdigger recently. The ladder swung slightly as Bluehawk remembered his fear of heights, but his emerald was with him. The airship began to move toward Forte as he climbed, but the emerald's presence prevented unease. "What's the deal?" Hawk asked, climbing into the cockpit to stand behind Urthdigger's friend.

"If I can get into one of those Chimera Cruisers, it might finally be our ticket home!" NKLS grinned as Saturn took a hold of his waist. Hawk looked away. _Bloody hell, even NKLS has a significant-_

"It's okay, Bandit! The rope ladder's secure!" Hawk heard Forte calling. "Stay put while Bandit comes up." He told the pilot, followed closely by Urthdigger.

"You came even without me calling, unless this thing's been made damn fast." Urthdigger smiled, dropping the bag of holding to the floor. "Everyone get your stuff."

By the time everyone was on the ship (including Phantom, who was blocking up the hole in the bottom with the glider, which was steered by the hole's edges) and everyone had heard NKLS's wishes, Everyone sat just behind the cockpit making their own decisions. The cruiser was firing a red beam upon the city, which appeared to be dropping off all of the criminals they had picked up…Bluehawk was the first to stand up, except for Phantom who was already standing. "I'm going back to the city."

Phantom nodded his own agreement, before asking "Is anyone coming to go bag some bad guys?"

Forte Kenshin was the only one to run toward the glider, which was basically a 'yes'. Bandit looked like she was about to throw up, a choice between staying on the airship or heading for land on a very tiny flying device…she didn't move from her seat. "Seeya!" Hawk cried as he adjusted his sunglasses and leapt upon the glider, grabbing the bottom with both hands, and then suddenly feeling heavily burdened as Forte grabbed his legs.

"Let's kick it up there!" NK shouted as he booted the lid shut and the cruiser begin to move swiftly into the sky. Urth's airship matched its velocity easily.

The second they reached the streets, Forte suddenly dropped off and sent the other two heading straight upward after playing to the extreme extra weight. There seemed to be a huge gathering in the center of the town, which all three spotted from the distance. The released criminals of SoaH…one of them stood on a pedestal…

"Take me down Phantom! Faster!"

Phantom stayed at the same altitidue, leaving Hawk's legs dangling just over a foot above the ground.

"You'll have more fun this way!" Phantom grinned.

Hawk twigged as they raced up at the gathering army of recklessness. Using the emerald's power, wondering how he had once combined the dang thing with himself, Bluehawk started kicking his legs about furiously. The glider wobbled, so much the better. The criminals seemed to finally hear the whirring of the glider at top speed, none of them managed to dodge in time and Bluehawk's flailing feet scattered seemingly endless evils before he dropped off of the glider to allow Phantom his own attacks. Within seconds most of them had fled, Bluehawk knocked out as many as he could with his utter speed, bashing them all against building walls so that the police could easily tie them up again. Hawk grinned when he saw that there were none left.


End file.
